He's There.

This may not be a terribly earthshaking thought, but God is really good. I don't really know how long I've been saved, it might have been on that September day when I was just a child and my older brother told me about Jesus, it might have been sometime since then as I moved through more mature experiences and teachings. I don't really know, and I honestly don't really care. I think many of us Christians get too hung up on 'when' specifically we get saved, sometimes it's not that easy to pin down. All I really know, is that I AM saved. I have been pulled by the Spirit, bought by the Son, and adopted by the Father. I don't trust my emotions, why would I? They tell me constantly that God couldn't possibly have saved me. “You wouldn't be sinning if you were saved.” The annoying little voices tell me. “Your thoughts would be purer,” or “Your deeds would be more righteous,” they say. Sometimes it's a struggle but in the end it all comes down to the promises of God.

“For the Scripture says, “whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:11-13)

There are many others, but essentially the idea is that you could not save yourself, you cannot “un-save” yourself, which makes sense. God knows all of history already, every detail. Why would He bother “saving” you, knowing you would only bork it up 5 years later? He knew when you asked for forgiveness when you were ten that you would steal a pack of gum when you were twelve or that you'd give in to temptation with your boyfriend/girlfriend when you were nineteen. Once we are saved, we ask for forgiveness, not because we need to fear that He won't forgive us, but because we are repenting of the sin we know to be wrong. We are recognizing that our sin is a betrayal, not just to the ones we may harm on earth but to the God who died for us and set us free. When God forgives us He forgive everything we will ever do, the sacrifice is more than sufficient for the cause. By the way, before anyone says anything, this obviously this doesn't give us license to sin, Paul covered this in his letter to the Romans.

Anyway, back to my initial point, God is good. We have all sinned and by some miracle of grace we find ourselves freed from the just punishment of those crimes. Yet God doesn't stop there, oh no! We have access to a peace that passes all understanding, a peace amidst trial and frustration that literally MAKES NO EARTHLY SENSE. I say earthly sense because it makes a great deal of spiritual sense. Ultimately we have God on our side, and the promise of eternal peace and communion with Him for eternity...what was I worried about again? My job? My money? Any of a number of things that happen on this dirty little ball during the 100 years, at most, that I'm alive? The problem is very much akin to listening to a badly mixed song. Imagine this: as the song plays, if you listen carefully there's a beautiful cello part in the background, softly and smoothly carrying you to heights of beauty. Unfortunately the sound technician thought some other instrument, lets say a... clarinet for example, should have it's volume cranked up really high. So try as you may that friggin clarinet keeps taking all your attention, drowning out the gorgeous cello. (I don't hate clarinets btw, just an illustration.) In our daily lives we have all these “problems” and “issues” that drown out the simple yet wonderful truth that God is quite literally standing right next to you with His arm around your shoulder, and that you'll one day join Him for an eternity of joy.

I still don't understand a lot of things, why God chose those He chose, how exactly the inspiration of the scriptures worked, and many others, but it's good to remind myself that God is there. That He cares for His children and will carry us through our hardships. Take some time today and thank Him for being there for/with you. God Bless.