I have been so refreshed and encouraged by a one-to-one discipleship guide that our church will be using. Our other pastor's wife and myself have been going through it together. The segments are titled: Assurance of Salvation, Experiencing God's Love, Holy Spirit, and Growing in Christ.
I'm one of those people who really responds to having things clearly mapped-out. Lists. This+this=this which means this. You get the picture. There is much in this study that I had learned as a young believer. But through the years I have adopted a lot of fuzzy thinking. Areas where I understood the concept but not in a way that I could articulate or support it clearly through God's word. Not that the support wasn't there...it is! I just never bothered to search for it and allow the Holy Spirit to help me put the pieces together. Here are some examples.
My relationship vs. my fellowship with God. They aren't the same thing. Yet, up to this point, I would use the word relationship to describe both! Fuzzy for me. Confusing at best for anyone in a conversation with me pertaining to this subject! My relationship with God as His daughter is completely and totally maintained by Him. (John 1:12, John 10:27-29, I Peter 1:3,4) My fellowship with God began when I accepted Him, is maintained in part by me and can change depending on me. (Colossians 2:6, Psalm 66:16-20, I John 1:9) Funny how just clearly defining two words brings things into focus.
Asking forgiveness vs. confession. They aren't the same thing either! Confession is me agreeing with God about my sin; saying the same thing God says. (I John 1:9) Forgiveness is what Christ did for me on the cross. It is already done. (Colossians 2:13,14) And if you need a 'with-skin-on-it' example of how asking for forgiveness is not the same thing as confession let me remind you of something I'm sure you have witnessed and most of us have taken part in!
Daughter #3 injures, on purpose, daughter #1.
Me to Daughter #1: "That was mean and hurtful, you need to make this right with your sister!"
Daughter #3 to Daughter #1: begrudgingly "sorry."
Did she mean it? Hardly. Did she agree that her actions where mean and hurtful? Maybe. But, as a mom I can say, she most likely was sorry that she got caught or in trouble. This sharpened view of forgiveness and confession reinforces the countless times I've asked my girls, "Why are you sorry? What did you do that was wrong? or How do you think she felt when you did that?"
On one hand it has been exciting to have God clear out the cobwebs and make these simple truths more clear to me. On the other hand, it was really humbling to sketch it out here because I feel like, "...for-goodness-sakes I should'da had a better grip on this all along!" But overall I'm thankful. Thankful that He is longsuffering toward me. Oh!...how He has patiently labored for and with me! And, being the greatest teacher, He knows that sometimes we need to hear things over and over and in different ways so that they really sink in.
Having a fresh, and more complete understanding of these foundations of my faith breathes confidence and strength into my desire to love others as God loves them.
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4 comments:
excellent post, IL! i understand the 'fuzzy thinking' confession. and, that book sounds familiar. any chance you rec'vd it at a Christian Life and Witness class??
thanks for your prayers for us -- we will take them.
love you...
thanks LP! Actually the resource is published by Multiplication Ministries. It's a folder format titled Knowing God Personally - inserts for each topic/lesson. But, from what I hear about the CL&W class through C and others, the two go hand-in-hand!
God is so longsuffering. His patience with me makes no sense. He has told me the same thing over and over in different ways until I "got it," and continued reaching out to me long after I would have given up on myself.
I realize you were probably taking a different direction with your post today, but that statement you made about God's patience with you really *spoke* to me. Thank you!!!
What they said. :o)
I've actually had some semi-heated conversations in my Bible Interest Group at work about the relationship vs. fellowship thing. It's amazing how the church (yes, I said it, THE CHURCH) gets those two mixed up. And sad. And hard for me, sometimes, too. Thanks again for the post.
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