Help Me...again, and again
Salvation isn’t a one-time event so I don’t know why we are
surprised when things get tough for us.
Okay, first let me clarify, when I say salvation isn’t a
one-time event, I don’t mean you have to continually ask Jesus into your heart,
as if the first time didn’t stick. I was obsessive about it as a child –
thinking every time I sinned, I needed to start from step 1 again. That isn’t
what I mean. Salvation as defined by dictionary.com is the act of saving or protecting. Take for example, Hebrews 10:39 which
says, “But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to
those who have faith and are saved.” The word ‘saved’ is a present participle
verb, which means to be continually
saved. As in, we need to be saved and then saved again and again.
I didn’t intend on giving a grammar lesson because it isn’t
my point but I didn’t want to lose anybody in the opening. What I mean is this:
I’ve observed others (and caught myself doing it, too) to expect we’ll sail
past temptations now that we’re Christians as if it were easy, peasy, lemon
squeezy. It is simply not true and I honestly don’t know where that kind of doctrine
originates.
On Monday nights, I attend a “healthy living” group hosted at
my church. It’s our own version of Weight Watchers, and time and again, women
confess to struggles they are having with addictive eating behaviours. I get
it, I’ve been there too but more and more I realize we need to play an active
role in our own development – be it spiritual, physical or emotional. I can ask
Jesus for help but unless I’m able to make a choice to move towards wholeness
in mind, body and spirit rather than wallow in self-pity I will remain in the
pit I’ve let myself fall into.
The problem mindset (as I view it) is to expect once we’ve
made a decision to improve eating habits and promote a healthy lifestyle the
rest will be easy to do. We are surprised when there is resistance, and we need
to call on Jesus again and again in our distress. It’s not only in areas of
eating and food but also in spiritual disciplines or emotional responses.
Recognizing the problem is not the same thing as having the problem go away.
The problem will not go away until it’s been mastered.
Paul writes to the church in Galatia for them to help each
other carry the burdens for another (ch.6, v.2) but each one should carry his
own load (ch.6, v.5). We can use each other as support but it can’t stop there.
We each have a part to play.
Am I making sense, here? Sometimes I want to give people’s
head a shake and say, “Come on, you can do it, but you gotta do it. It’s a
battle of the wills, God gave you one so you can make a choice – choose the
right thing.”
Each decision is a choice; sometimes the choice seems so
hard, nothing short of heavenly assistance and salvation will suffice. It’s okay. Go ahead and ask for salvation,
again and again. If we didn’t need it, Jesus wouldn’t be making intercession
for us still (Romans 8:34). Self control is part of the fruit of the spirit –
if we lack the others, why wouldn’t we think you might lack self control as
well?
If we ask, we will receive because salvation is ours – again
and again.
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