Taking The Foolish Dive Into God’s Grace

I would say most people who know me are aware that I’m a Christian. I realize many people probably take that knowledge and assume certain things about me, based on their preconceived ideas of what Christianity is about. I’m not offended by it. They can’t help it, of course. They have their own experiences with Christians or church or religion that have shaped them to believe how they do. Maybe they think I’m mentally weak or needy, because I cling to what they believe to be a fairy tale. Maybe they assume that I’m judgmental or a Bible-thumper. I could try to defend myself to them. I could try to explain my science background and my well-thought out, and researched reasons I believe what I believe. But that’s the thing. No matter what I say, unless God reveals himself to a person and opens their eyes, I can speak till I’m blue in the face, and debate evidences forever. It won’t make sense to someone, if their spirit is hardened against it.


That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy discussions about philosophy and beliefs. I do. I’m a pretty open person, in general. Nothing is taboo or TMI or off limits that I can think of. As my husband says, “awkward is all in the mind.”


With this blatant open honesty preface, I’m just gonna lay out what I believe. If you care to know, this is exactly what I believe. Here goes:


That we humans are ALL spiritually dead, broken, and sinful people in a broken world - each of us destined for unfathomable eternal separation from God - outside of Salvation through Christ. NO good works or merit do ANYTHING to change this separation. We cannot earn salvation. We are incapable of saving ourselves, because we are DEAD. Dead people can’t do anything.


BUT God, the Creator of the universe, loved us so much that He gave His own son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for our sin (which is death) by dying on a cross and rising from the dead to bring us eternal LIFE (body and soul). Through this gift, we can experience and have a real, vibrant and loving relationship with God.


God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in Christ is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned ALREADY because he has not believed in the name of God’s son, Jesus. The Bible says: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you WILL be saved, made new, made spiritually alive with God forever.


God is no respecter of persons: He wants a personal relationship with YOU. He doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, black or white, have a PhD or are a high school drop out, homosexual, transsexual, transgender, a murderer, addicted to porn, pro-abortion, or an adulterer! He wants you, regardless! You don’t have to get your act together before you approach God. YOU CAN’T get your act together. YOU’RE DEAD.


So, what do you think, now that I’ve spelled it out? Do I sound crazy?


The Bible talks about this.


“For the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness, but for us who are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:18


“For the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he understand them or know them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor 2:14


The cross is foolishness to the unsaved. Until God chooses to open his blind eyes and dead heart, a person cannot possibly understand or choose God. As Christians, we don’t see to believe. We believe to see. This idea does not make sense to unsaved people. They want to be able to know, without a doubt, FIRST, before they believe. They want to be convinced. That’s what makes Christianity unique. Other religions try to fit themselves and “god” to man’s understanding/agenda. Christianity is built on molding men to God’s understanding/agenda.


It’s kind of like air or an invisible electric fence. Can we observe air or wind? Can we SEE the electrical current? Nope. We might be able to observe the indirect effects on something else, though. We can watch a person’s parachute become full of air after they jump out of a plane. We can watch a dog wearing the shock collar yelp when it tries to cross the invisible fence. But unless someone or something directly interacts with the elements, they are simply not observable. That’s sort of what I think believing on Jesus is. Belief/faith is taking that committed step, when you DON’T KNOW, and trusting that God will catch you. It’s jumping out of the plane and pulling your chute. After the jump, you SEE chute catch you and FEEL the air holding you up, but you can’t be sure until you jump. Holding onto the plane or holding onto a rope won’t show you. Until you completely let go, you cannot understand or experience God’s salvation. You cannot KIND OF believe. You either jump, or you don’t.


“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -C.S. Lewis