Choosing what to do and knowing that it is God's will is a frustrating effort. I wonder how many times we miss the boat because we are so busy contemplating the jump that we miss the opportunity.
An instructor and I were talking after her lecture. During our conversation she quoted Luther saying "Sin boldly". I found the full quote after our conversation and here it is. “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” Totally caught off guard by such a quote I asked its meaning. She explained that instead of missing the boat because we didn't jump, we need to just jump into it. If we find out down the river that we chose wrongly then God’s grace is more than sufficient to forgive us and His hand is strong enough to push us in the right direction. This means not to worry about all the details.
Abram is a great example for this. We read in Genesis 12:1 that God tells Abram to “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you”. Verse 4, “so Abram left, as the Lord had told him”.
This is faith that requires obedient action. As you obediently act so your eyes will get a glimpse of what God has for you. Don’t worry, just obey. He will tell you when you get there.
8 comments:
Wasn't moving to Fresno a bit like being like Abram? I thought it was.
There is a difference between jumping in when you know that God is leading you, and and jumping in simply because you want to. People in a hard marriage might want to jump out, because that would make them "happy" and God wants them to be happy... That person's attitude is not really the truth. God hates divorce. God didn't promise us happiness. He promised to be with us through hard times. And he promised to be the potter, and refiner. He molds us because we have value. Being very analytical I rarely jump into anything. However, this appeals more to the global view don't you think? Before jumping I'd check with Scripture to see what God has to say.
What was the topic of class? Maybe that would help me to see why jumping sounded like a good idea.
Yes, there is a huge difference between jumping because you feel God is saying jump or because you want to jump. Jumping into something you know is wrong would be intentional sin. I am speaking here of when there is a fork, both are good but which is best, how do we make that call, how do we know if we took the right way?
In our society and culture we want all the ingredients to add up and get us from here to there. Sometimes all the dots are not connected. We see the start and the result but how'd we get there? Or we see the start and a few steps but how do we reach the finality of it and what will its finality look like? Interpretation comes into play. Interpretation is the boat.
Kari is by no means a Biblical scholar. But, I, like Tasha, feel confused. Something from the quote to the interpretation just didn't make it all the way through to me. I lost something in the translation. Sorry! Will we ever truly know if we took the "right" fork in the road? Sounds like it would be a great one to run past Mark Rogers!
I emailed Mark and asked him what his toughts were on the quote and on the conclusion I drew from it. We should hear back soon. Stay tuned...
Sorry guys. I meant to chime in on this a week ago. But a busy end of the week preparing for Sunday services, and then the stomack flu kept me from it.
I am hoping to respond tonight or tomorrow.
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