Jesus We Talk About Rescued
Dear Thomas,
We have come to your twenty-sixth and final question, wherein you ask, “Why are you a Christian? What does it do for you? What do you think I am missing by not committing my life to Christ?”
I am a Christian for a number of reasons. First I have found a friend in the Creator God of the universe. I have found a friend in Jesus.
I have found living, experiential truth in Jesus’ statement, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends” (John 15:15).
I understand that I have been forgiven, not just for my past sins but also for my current and future sins that I trust I will regret and confess! I have discovered that I am loved.
I have been loved from the beginning of creation and from the moment of my birth. I will continue to be loved in all my present comings and goings all the way to my death and resurrection.
Being loved by God in Jesus Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit has made a tremendous difference in my life. It gives me the foundation of being. It gives a contextual meaning of life from its source to its ultimate new beginning.
I’ll confess that on the one hand, I fall short and know it. On the other hand, I can continually praise God for His continued acceptance of me in spite of all my failings in this life.
Yes, thanks be to God in whom my salvation and redemption are assured! Because of who Jesus Christ is, what He did on the cross of Calvary, and His resurrection, I no longer have to worry about living in a certain manner and accumulating good works to earn my salvation.
And if I Focus on who I am not in the flesh but in the Spirit in Christ, then the wonder and joy of it all come alive.
I can trust that slowly and surely I am being transformed into what God intended me to be, even in this life. There are possibilities of conducting my life in a manner that shows my appreciation for that salvation, that rescue promised and granted as a free gift.
The Bible says in Janies 1 that even when trials and tribulations crowd into my life, I need not lose my grip on the good news.
To paraphrase, “If we have a particular problem that we don’t know how to handle, we have only to sincerely ask God, who gives generously to all of us without making us feel stupid or foolish.” That is indeed good news!
That’s what is so fantastic about the Christian message, the good news of all that has been done to rescue us. Even though we are born into sin, which has made its home within our minds and bodies, we can still be free from the condemnation of it! We can also experience freedom from the guilt of it.
We can enjoy freedom from and victory over the activity of sin in whatever form it tries to express itself. And if we slip knowingly, impulsively, or even unknowingly until an attitude or action is exposed, we are free to confess and be forgiven. This all comes because of our relationship with Jesus Christ through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
When we sin, we can say,
With God through Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit, the failings of the flesh can find redemption, even in this life. And along the way, as I have mentioned a number of times, we have the opportunity to experience the gifts of the Spirit as expressed in Galatians 5:22, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
All this is a free gift granted by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God has declared it so. Thus, anyone can belong to Him just by choosing Him.
This holds true for you and for each person who asks for forgiveness and connectedness to the God of love. What an awesome experience to understand and realize God’s rescue plan as shown in the cross of Jesus Christ and His resurrection on the third day thereafter!
Often I journal in a way that is a conversation with God. In my journal, I have the opportunity to affirm my own understandings and convictions based on my personal experience.
Journaling helps me realize my own connectedness to Jesus. Though this is a personal prayer, let me share this prayer from my journal with you.
Lord, I most often start my prayer journals by addressing You thus. When I say, “Lord,” I know that I am addressing You, Father. I am also addressing You, Jesus.
And I am also addressing You, Holy Spirit, who dwells within me. You are one God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer of all life and all things, however large or small.
No one can fully comprehend You; no one can encompass You. You and You alone are Lord over all that was, is, and ever will be.
Your glory shines in the heavens above. Your glory shines in the earth below. You and You alone are given all honor, power, and glory forever and ever.
You, Lord, so loved the world that You gave Yourself to it in Jesus Christ. You, Lord, in Jesus, besides creating us, also redeemed us by Your birth, life, death, and resurrection.
You, Lord, by Your love and grace, gave us the Holy Spirit. You, Lord, enlivened us spiritually when we were once spiritually dead.
You, Lord, gave us the promise of life everlasting. You, Lord, gave us the power to discern and defeat the Evil One, Satan, the father ofall lies about You and those You love.
Now that I have been enlivened by You and am able to discern spiritual things by my freewill choice and by faith alone based on ample evidence, I belong to You.
I am known and loved. Yes, it would seem beyond belief that You, Lord, in every way know me, care for me, love me. Yes, it is true! It is absolutely true! And I am free to believe it, know it, experience it, enjoy it, and declare it. I am also free to love You back.
Lord, I ask in sincere faith that You would continue to heal me from the effects of sin in and around me. Heal me from life’s worries and stresses.
Heal me from those periods of doubt when faith gets weak. Forgive me and heal me from the errors of the past. Help me to seek Your kingdom first.
Help me to live in a relationship with you one day at a time. Teach me to always say what is true about You. Keep me close to You so that I may reflect You.
I understand that this world has become the focus of that cosmic conflict where Satan seeks to prevent or destroy any who would come to You.
If in any way Satan tries to separate me from You or tries to destroy me, please, Lord, help me to remember quickly who I am in You. I belong to You.
I have been adopted by You. You have given Yourself to me. Therefore, I can claim absolutely that because of your being in me and I in You, I am accepted, secure, and significant.
I am free in Christ Jesus, for in Him and Him alone I live, move, and have my being. This is true. This is complete. This is done now and in this moment, and best of all, it will continue forever! As Jesus Christ said and I am convinced of its truth by experience “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And “Lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age ” This is my declaration and prayer, in Jesus’ name. Amen!
Going all the way back to the beginning of our correspondence, let me repeat my picture of what God is like in the life of the Christian. The overriding reality is that God can be trusted to love us and have our best interests in mind in all His actions toward us.
I say this not only from my own personal experience but also from the consistent testimony of God working out His rescue recorded in the Bible, especially the information on the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ, who said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”
God truly values our freedom for the sake of love. He always treats us with respect and dignity. He wants a direct and individual relationship with us now and forever.
And He wants that relationship to begin now! To me, the evidence shows that God is a continuously creative, self-emptying, self-limiting, agapeAovmg deity.
That evidence is shown through Scripture, through changed lives, and through His working in my life just as He assuredly can and hopefully does in yours.
What you would miss by not putting your life in the hands of our loving, forgiving, and gracious God is life itself—a new life, a full and complete life in Christ Jesus.
God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all offering the invitation, and they are all waiting for you to respond. Please accept this invitation. “Come,” God says.
“Come and enter into a relationship with Me, and I will create in you a new life, a transformed life, a life that will enjoy a special friendship with Me now in this life and for eternity.”
It is a free gift. Remember again, God in Jesus Christ says, “I love you. I accept you. I want you. I need you! Come, please come!”
Jesus’ words to me that summer evening in the “Prayer and Fox” story so many years ago are forever relevant to me. They are also forever relevant to you, for the story speaks a truth that, once understood, is life-changing.
Jesus, our Creator, our Savior, our Redeemer, could just as easily have put your name in His message to me that evening.
Remember the “prayer and fox” story and read His words as if they were spoken to you, “[Insert your name], look around you.
If I created the rock you are sitting on, the water that is rushing by, the trees, the mountains, the moon, the clouds and stars above, and if I created you also, don’t you think I can take care of you? Remember, your responsibility is to live in a relationship with Me one day at a time.”
If you have accepted this invitation and have entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, you have the gospel, the very good news about your ultimate future with Him.
Always remember that God loves you, accepts you, and will never let you go. By accepting Christ as your personal, relational, loving friend, you will discover a truly new life in this Jesus we talk about.
Your friend,
Matt