Before jumping to the Word I want to briefly touch on some quick housekeeping issues of which several of you have brought to my attention: "Matt, you challenge me as a skeptic, yet approaching the scriptures from an infallible perspective does little for me finding them contradictory and invalid." Fair. Extremely fair. As a large advocate for the pursuit of knowledge I would charge you two action steps. Check out "A Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel who came to the truth of Christ after years of atheism. He has an entire chapter devoted to the validity of scripture on a historical level outside of the church and the faith. More than that however, because love surpasses knowledge, I would encourage you simply to approach the gospel with an action based conviction. Meaning that if Christ spoke, and he did: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.", then test those words. Judge the authoritativeness of the Word simply by testing what it says and assessing the outcome. Meaning that for me, simply, this blog is an outlet to bring forth his Word, and the truths found therein. I may or may not ever write of the validity of the Bible, for I am a passionate believer that Christ reveals HIMSELF through his Word, leaving me with no job except to proclaim it. I hope this comes across clear, for it was not a brief as I had hoped.
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It's inside of grace that I find my home.
"But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13b-14)
We'll start here. Typically I think I would choose to close with this statement, but today I think we will begin with the end and work our way backwards.
Biblically, we are to pursue Christ in holiness.
See: 2nd Corinthians 5:14-15
See: Ephesians 2:1-10
See: 1 Timothy 6:11-12
See: Colossians 3:1-18
See: 1 Peter 1:14-16
Yet, as products of the fall, we will often fail.
See: 1 John 1:8
See: Romans 7:18-20
See: Any Biblical character, excluding Jesus. Or any church staff member. Or... anyone.
The truth of the fall is that Christ came to restore, reconcile and empower. Moreover, we do nothing but prove that we don't understand the gospel, grace, or the cross when we, having fallen, run from the all-knowing God in an attempt to clean ourselves up before pursuing his goodness. The cross stands sufficient.
Currently my favorite biblical example of Christ's full circle restoration is found in the story of the disciple Peter. In John 13:38 Christ looks at Peter, who had just professed his devotion, and says: "Will you lay your life down for me? Truly, truly, I say to you the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times." We see this prophesy brought to life in John 18:15-27, when Peter is approached by three different people in regards to his connection with the imprisoned Christ, and three times he denied the Messiah.
Very quickly, and carefully I would like to state that while I hold a firm belief that any, and all sin will damn us to eternal separation from God, I do believe that on a humanistic level, the blatant denial of the physical manifestation of God incarnate is a greater err than I believe is possible. I say this simply because the point of sin is only the separation between God and man, and I don't find any other sin that produces this direct effect than the statement of: "I don't know the Christ."
You have never fallen or run too far from the grace and love and pursuit of Christ.
See: John 3:16
See: Romans 8:37-39
See: James 4:7-8
John 21:15-17 shows the reconciliation of the risen Christ and Peter as three times, which happens to be the same amount of times that Peter denied his Savior, Christ accepts Peter's love.
"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
He said to him, "Yes Lord; you know that I love you."
He said to him, "Feed my lambs." (John 21:15b)
Lastly, and much of the book of Acts is an example of this, but after the fall of Peter, after the restoration of Peter, came the empowerment of Peter. In the book of Acts we find Peter say things, do things, and be a part of a movement that is rarely seen in church history. Literally the man, being so full of the Holy Spirit, mimics the signs of Christ healing the lame.
See: Acts 3:6
See: Acts 2:14-47
Here we close. Should you be a skeptic, possibly it is because you simply think that the things you have done define you. With the places you've been, and the things you have seen, a God, should there be one, could never love you. I want to encourage you with the fact that the God of the universe came to abolish that. It is within grace that we find our home, and this world and it's pleasures will never fill you to the extent of the one who made, created, and loves you in your failure.
Should you be a believer, accept your insufficiencies, repent and stand upon the grace which first saved you. We are not to wallow and allow our sins and struggles to define us; for at the cross the great exchange was made in which Christ traded his righteousness for our sin. Run the race and strain towards the goal ahead in holiness and truth.
May the Word move in you, and through you.
To Him be the glory,
Matt Allen
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