Chewing on Truth Part 1

Over the past 8 years of my walk with my Jesus I have grown in the knowledge of Him by His grace (Colossians 1:10) and have wrestled with many precious Truths of Scripture trying to I suppose reconcile what in my head seemed to be logical conflicts. What of course I discovered time and time again was the reality of my finite human brain and the greatness of our God and the fact that the more I studied and sought the Truth the more He revealed it to me. James 1:5 stood true, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." My prayer is that through this blog you would be challenged and encouraged to seek the Truth for yourself through His Word.

I remember my moment of salvation quite clearly, in fact if any of you know me, or have read my past blogs you know that my point of conversion was some 10 years after I thought I had been saved. Much like Charles Spurgeon I had come to Christ originally thinking that I was doing it all myself, that I was seeking Him, but what He revealed to me 10 years later was it was HE who was seeking me. I remember the moment when I realized that there was a complete exchange of resumes, Jesus' for mine and that nothing I brought to the table was going to make my standing before a holy God "good enough". When I began to think about how I became a Christian, I began to realize that I shouldn't have sought after Him if He hadn't put an influence inside my heart and mind. The doctrines of what have come to be known as "Calvinism" are taboo in many Christian circles and rarely discussed in depth leaving many "Christians" trying to chew on meat that seems impossible to swallow. Trying to reconcile a tension on our brains between the culpability for our own sin and the reality of a sovereign God who chooses us from before the foundation of the earth causes many to wrestle with countless thoughts night and day. So what to do then? Do we leave it alone because the tension is unresolvable? Do we not seek the Truth and treat it as a "minor" issue rather than a "major" one necessary for salvation? I don't think Paul would encourage us any differently then He did the Bereans who were good students of the word...we too must be the same!

I have wanted to write series of blogs about this topic for quite sometime but I have been a bit hesitant because of the weight of the Truths it would contain and because even more so I am only 8 years old in my faith and I myself still am not even close to understanding it all, but as I journey in the quest for Truth through the pursuit of the word of God I pray that what I have found biblically to be true would encourage you as well as you seek to grow in your holiness.

"The more you feast on his fellowship, the hunbrier you are for deepr and richer communication. We do not begin as Calvinists and defend a system. We begin as Bible believing Christians who want to put the Bible above all systems of thought. But over the years--many years of struggle-- we have deepened in our conviction that Calvinistic teachings on the five points are Biblical and therefore true. Our own struggle makes us patient with others who are on the way. We believe that all wrestling to understand what the Bible teaches about God is worth it. God is a rock of strength in a world of quicksand. To know him in His sovereignty is to become like an oak tree in the wind of adversity and confusion. And along the strength is sweetness and tenderness beyond imagination. The sovereign Lion of Judah is the sweet Lamb of God." -John Piper

Let us throw the word "Calvinism" aside for the time being and rather call what we are trying to discover Christianity, what the Bible calls it. Our desire, as believers, is to make sure that we honor God by rightly handling the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). As Jesus is our perfect example of humility and as we are striving to be like Him (aka God is making us more like Him), we need to humbly be willing and open to change any of our ideas which could be contradictory to the Word of God. In order however to more clearly understand the process of regeneration I am going to use some of the words used in the system of Calvinism. Again I pray you will be encouraged!