this sunday we will be talking about the gospel. believe-behave-belong. i want you to think about your journey of faith. where are you in these three words? is this the order you would put them in? what about jesus...how did he share the good news with people? behave-believe-belong? belong-believe-behave?
when you think about your experience with "the church", what order would you say most churches live by? (realizing that we are all in fact "the church")
a further question...at what point does salvation or conversion occur? believe? belong? behave? when does someone become a christian...when do they truly understand the good news?
join the conversation here online or with us in person on sunday night.
peace to you,
scott
1 comment:
I'm not sure how to think of these three in an order. I think often in Christian circles it is easy to see behaving as most important because we can see the results or lack of results in others. It is harder to figure out where I stand. Maybe belonging is most important for me. Not to say that it should be but that it is a natural desire to want to fit in. In many Christian circles these three are often mashed together, when really it all comes down to behaviour, what others can see.
Regarding your last question, a man told me once that some Christians believe that when it comes to salvation it is not a moment in time that we are saved but that God has preordained it before anyone could conceive of our existence. This calls into play the debate between predestination and free will. Rather than debating, maybe it would be more beneficial to think about who God is and what we assume He is capable of and not capable of. The moment we hold God in our hands is the moment that this god can not exist apart from us. That is not to say that we should not strive to understand God but rather we should not strive to contain Him.
Hope my thoughts are interesting. I would love to read some other responses.
Justin
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