Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Thing with People

Most of them (us) want to be different. They (we) just don't want to change.

We want the outcome, but not the process.

Because change is hard.

Until we are willing to do the latter, we will never be the former.

One of the roles of the Christian is to be an agent of change, relying on the Holy Spirit through the use of Scripture. We are to be an agent of change in our lives as well as in the lives of others.

And remember, not just any change will do. Any change worth making is biblical change.

So we, as disciples and disciple-makers, must be agents of biblical change, using the Scriptures in the power of the Spirit to effect change both in our lives and in the lives of others.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen. Way too many Christians are sitting watching TV at home rather than getting out to do the hard work of actually seeking to win people for Jesus Christ. It is hard to visit and actually confront someone about their need to accept the Lord. This takes a spiritual vision and realization that people are going to Hell and God has given us as Christians the job of winning them. I am afraid that the false doctrine of Calvin that says that people will be somehow forced to believe if they are elected is sending a lot of people to hell. The logical end of this is "what me worry" (to quote a famous Mad Magazine Character). God will take care of this and I don’t have to be involved.” Christians are just lazy and think they have no responsibility to "go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel". This is the bane of the Church today.
“Pr 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”.

Larry said...

Thanks for your comments, Anonymous.

Let me address several things.

1. The main point of my post had nothing to do with soteriology or Calvinism, but with the moral choices people make in their lives.

2. There are way too many people watching TV than doing just about anything else. It is hard to imagine something less profitable than watching TV.

3. It is hard to confront people about Christ.

4. It is extremely prejudical to preface comments about the doctrines known as Calvinism with "false." While some may disagree with what is known as Calvinism, it has been shown over and over again to be exegetically sustainable, and IMO, the only possible explanation for what the Scripture says about God's work in salvation. I see no way to affirm inerrancy while not being a Calvinist. IMO, in order to deny Calvinism one must severely wrench the Scriptures from their context and from the context of the whole Bible.

5. Calvinism fully affirms that we are to go into all the world and make disciples. Someone who doesn't know that Calvinism teaches that doesn't know Calvinism very well.

6. Proverbs 11:30 has nothing to do with witnessing or "soul winning" as it is commonly called. To use it is support of preaching teh gospel (which we should do) is an illegitimate use of Scripture.

But thanks for reading and commenting.