Not feeling encouraging, continues to another day

As you can tell from my last two blog entries that I have been very unhappy with the state of the church in America. So, instead of responding to other people's posts, I decided to start a new discussion thread

It is called, "You think you are saved but are you, really?" I took its contents from one of my previous blog entries but it had a different prespective.

Here's the my initial post in the new thread:

We know John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

If you are saved by believing, what does it mean to believe?

James 2:18-19 says:

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.

In fact, Jesus forsees people who thought that they were save but really weren't. See Luke 13:23:

Someone asked him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?

He said to them, Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, Sir, open the door for us.

But he will answer, I dont know you or where you come from.

Then you will say, We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.

But he will reply, I dont know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!

Jesus was talking about people who ate and drank with Christ (The Church is the Body of Christ - Corpus Christi), people who come to church and partake of the last supper.

Are you really saved?

In Matthew 6:31-33 Jesus decribed life of a disciple like this:

So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Do you believe? Trust in Jesus enough to put seeking His kingdom and righteousness before anything else in your life? If asked by God, would you be willing to give up your home, your career, your retirement account, your current girlfriend/boyfriend and trust that Jesus would provide?

Are your really saved?


Consider this story:

Charles Blondin (real name: Jean François Gravelet) was a tight-rope walker who performed around the previous turn of the century (late 1800s). He would walk on a rope strung between two skyscrapers, on a rope hung over Niagara Falls, ....

At the beginning of his act he would always ask his audience if they believe he can do it.

Usually, there is silence.

He would walk across and back.

Then he would attempt doing it again but with a more complicated task like walking the rope while rolling a wheel barrow. And before he does, he would ask the audience if they believe he can do it.

He would walk across and back with the wheel barrow.

Then he would attempt doing it again but with a even more complicated task like having a 200 pound sack of potato in the wheel barrow.

Just as before, he would ask the audience if they believe he can do it.

By this time, the audience was sure he can do it and expressed themselves appropriately.

He would walk across and back with a wheel barrow containing the sack of potatoes.

Finally, he would attempt doing it again but carrying a person (200 lb or less) across.

Just as before, he would ask the audience if they believe he can do it.

By now, I can imagine the audience screaming, "We believe! We believe! We believe!"

Then, Blondin would turn to one member of the audience and say, "Get on!"

When Jesus said to you, "Get on!", did you?

Are you really saved?

Never, in Blondin's tight rope walking career, did any member of the audience get on. But Blondin always carried a person across. He always carried his agent across.

That's what it takes to be saved. To be willing to give up all your safety nets and let Jesus carry you across. And that is what the world should see when they look at your life. That is how you can be an agent for Christ.

Are you really saved?