Tried With Fire

I can so relate to this excerpt by Michael Horton. Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt. Lived with this fear, and carried its heavy weight. I am so glad for the freedom of the gospel. Not the freedom of license to sin, but the freedom that comes from trusting God, who will complete what He has started. "According to the Reformation position, regeneration inevitably results in a changed life. Anyone who is truly born again by grace alone will be a "new creature," and therefore will be eager to love and obey God even when he or she ends of falling short of the mark constantly, as we all do. Looking back at those calls to "higher life," realizing that there is no such thing as a Christian who wants to be simply carnal, I can see how the call to enter into the "victorious Christian life" was appealing to all of us. We wanted it desperately. We would do anything for it. And, as [Zane] Hodges puts it, discipleship is not free in this system. It ...

Whenever someone implies that there are multiple tiers to salvation, I get suspicious. It's mainly due to a "once bitten twice shy" reaction to the deeper life/early Keswick theology which informed 40 years of my Christian life. This is one teaching that will rob you of your assurance and confidence in Christ. Why? Because there is an "initial" salvation that gets you in the door - forgiveness of your sins, but you need to haul yourself to the next level by your surrender. The act of surrender also needs to be a surrender in itself because "you" aren't supposed to do anything. Only "Christ" can. This becomes such a mess of spiritual pulse-taking to check if you are sufficiently dead to yourself. It then produces an underlying fear that never goes away because if you don't reach the next level, your acceptance into the kingdom is at stake. This particular twist is courtesy of the partial rapture teachings of D.M. Panton, and G.H. Lang....

I didn't grow up reformed.  Until three years ago, I had no idea what the word even meant, but when reformed theology found me, it opened a whole new world.  There are no words to describe the relief and freedom that comes when you realize your salvation in its totality depends on God and not you.  The Gospel isn't the recitation of the sinners prayer but a life changing truth that takes us from new birth until the very end.  Doctrine suddenly became a wonderful thing to learn.  I had never seen before how my view of God shapes my view of man and vice-versa  My concept of sin directly affects my understanding of grace. Same with wrath and love. These words have meaning, and rightly defining them makes all the difference in the world. A biblically robust, cohesive framework of truth is a beautiful thing. But sometimes I react against what I used to believe.  I'm a little too quick on the trigger when certain phrases or topics strike a raw theolog...