"i'm a christian, sweetie, i don't sweat salvation."

[pennyjane]

<giggle>  was just talking to a sweet girl i know on line.  i told her about my purple and pink dr seuss hat which promted her to tell me about how she loves to read dr suess to the children.  i thought that must be a lot of fun and made me think of reading the bible for old folks down in the nursing home.  that's a lot of fun too.

anyway, this girl joked that i must read the bible because she knows how badly i need salvation.  i quiped back, "i'm a christian, sweetie, i don't sweat salvation."  ok, then the conversation got serious.

she said that she understands from the christians she knows that salvation is a point of almost constant interest and concern.  thinking about that some, i realize she's right.  so many of the christians i know are focused on how they're going to get into heaven.  maybe they didn't read the part about how we get into heaven by grace and by grace alone.  the grace ain't ours, we have no control over it...it belongs exclusively to God, so why worry about it?  i think that if i started worrying about it i'd drive myself nuts and still get nowhere.  what part of "you cannot earn your way into heaven" is so difficult to understand?  i think it goes back to that old laws thing.  as paul says if you count on obeying the laws to get you into heaven you got a big old shock coming...the laws are for the lost.  one does good works because he loves God and wants to please Him, not because he wants something back for his efforts.  the reward is in believing that you have made God smile...if one believes in God and loves God...what better reward can you ask for?  no greater thing can a mortal do then to make God smile...i stand by that.

[RebeccaFog]

I think you have the right idea.

[Suzy]

<giggle>    i quiped back, "i'm a christian, sweetie, i don't sweat salvation."  .

Well I don't honestly know how you could have done any better at all!

Only one observation:  I thought Christian girls weren't supposed to sweat at all! 

Kristi

[pennyjane]

<giggle>  "practicing" christian, sweetie, still working out the kinks.

Posted on: October 05, 2008, 08:51:21 amand so today was world communion day.  of course pastor ben tried to make his sermon fit the mood.  communion...a mystery, a wonderous, soft, tender connection with our loving God.  coming to the Lord's table to be in communion with Him.  i always thought it was for me.  i always get a feeling that the communion is real, i really am just a bit closer to Him during that time.  i think my prayers mean more and are more like the prayers God really wants to hear from us.

pastor ben asked us today to think of a person that really tries us.  someone who just gets under our skin and we find very difficult to love.  think of that person as you come to the table, know that you are sharing God's love and His grace with them.  know that God loves that person with all His heart...laughs when they laugh, cries when they cry..suffers when they suffer.

i thought of someone.  someone i think is just completely self-absorbed, arrogant and entitled, and the one thing that really scrapes that chalk across the blackboard for me...she has a filthy mouth.  every sentence from her mouth is loaded with vulgarity and profanity.  i thought of her.  i imagined her right beside me as i approached the table.  "the bread of life, pj" says the pastor...and i heard another name with mine.  when i returned to my seat i was very humbled, human and very, very short of the glory of God.  i had actually had the audacity to ask God to be kind to this woman in prayer before communion.  i had assumed that God loved me and i might have some pull with Him so if i asked nicely...for me...maybe he'd work on her.  how humiliating when i sat there and realized that she was there, she was at the Lord's table by His invitation and He was tick'led pink to see her.  seems God knew her and loved Her every bit as well as He knows me and loves me.

"communion" says pastor ben, "isn't it about humility?"

[sandra]

Pennyjane, 

I just want to say that your post meant a lot to me!

God bless,

Sandra

[Rachael]

See the chrstians like thier little trends and fashions but they forget we jews had it right from the begining

[pennyjane]

hmmmm....ain't no doubt, God gave ya'll a bunch and we wouldn't even be here without you.  show-off!  but....wasn't it jews who wrote leviticus?  wasn't it ya'll who came up with all the impossible rules one has to follow to get into heaven?  we only got one rule....love Jesus.

maybe God figured us gentiles just weren't strong enough or bright enough to follow all them rules...we need someone like Jesus to fullfill them for us and simplify things down.  at any rate, i don't doubt we'll all meet somewhere in the hereafter and have a good laugh at ourselves.  may the God of abraham, issac and israel bless you with...

[sandra]

Pennyjane and Rachael, 

There was a miniseries on PBS about Judaism and Christianity down thru history.  Right at the end was
an interview with a rabbi.  He said that if he is still alive when the Messiah comes, he will be able to
say to his Christian friend, "See, I was right!"  But his Christian friend will say, "No, I was right!  This
is the Second Coming!"  But there will be a press conference at which Messiah will be asked which opinion
is right, and the Messiah will say, "No comment."

God bless,

Sandra