Let's go back to m y post several days ago about this whole spirit, soul and body thing. There are 5 mine foundations to look at within the spirit (the part of you that relates to God).
Salvation
Assurance
Security
Acceptance
Total Commitment (Surrender)
With each of those let's look into God's word to see what He has to say on those topics.
FOUNDATION STONE #1
Salvation:
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24
Do you know you are a child of the King? Have you become aware that your sin separates you from God? Have you willfully submitted your life to God? Have you believed in the fact that God sent His son Jesus to die for you?
If you taken those steps then let's realize what you can firmly say without doubt "whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
You have eternal life...
You will not be condemned...
You have crossed over from death to life!
That's some good stuff. Our eternal life has just been handed to us. Meaning after this breath of a life we live on earth is done... You can know for sure where you'll be going! You will no longer be condemned or blamed before the Lord. Jesus has taken on your sins. You are no longer dead but have truly now come to life.
FOUNDATION STONE #2
Assurance:
"I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand"
John 10:28
No matter how you feel. No matter how unworthy you feel. No matter how much you do or don't do. NOTHING is going to snatch you out of the hands of your Father! Which means nothing is going to change where you spend eternity. Nothing is going to separate you from the God who has sent His Son to die for us and our sins. Rest assured that though nothing is certain or constant in life. Assurance in Christ can be and is completely available according to God's word! So when you can find nothing else in life to be confident in, just return to this verse.
FOUNDATION STONE #3
Security:
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day." John 6:37 -39
There seems to be a little bit of a scarlet thread running through these foundations to me. This one again leans upon something that is constant and unchanging. We can be completely secure in our position in Christ. Once we become one of His we will never be driven away from Him. We will not be lost along the way but one day we WILL be raised up and taken into eternity! These are facts not possibilities!
FOUNDATION STONE #4
Acceptance:
"To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved."
Ephesians 1:6
Is it not pretty safe to say that acceptance is a must for all of us? We strive to be accepted by all those around us whether you want to admit it or not. At our core (which God designed) we all are desperately looking to be accepted. In being accepted we feel we have purpose, we are loved, we are OK because there is someone who accepts us just as we are. Is that not a huge desire at your center? Well, it is mine. Praise be to God though because whether we see or feel that acceptance on a day to day basis... Feeling or no feeling YOU ARE ACCEPTED IN CHRIST!
That is truth. That is a foundation to build your life on!
FOUNDATION STONE #5
Total Commitment (Surrender)
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2
This is where the rubber meets the road. Did God provide the other 4 foundational stones so that we could collect them all and put them in a pretty box so we have some cute decorations to look at? I'm pretty sure no he did not! I'm pretty sure He's given those other foundations to help us willingly walk into this last foundational stone. What's great is that without fully accepting and experiencing the other 4 you will never accept or experience this 5th one. And vise versa... Without this one you will never fully appreciate the other 4.
To offer our lives back into the hands of God and fully trust He will do what He wants and needs to through it is the beauty of God. Reaching the point of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice is a tough point to reach, from an earthly perspective. But your mind will never fully be transformed into the likeness of Christ until you reach that point of fully worshipping Christ with all that you are.
The trick to this intense picture can be found in Galatians 2:20..
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me."
Wait a second! Foundation stone #1 said we've crossed from death to life? Yes... We (our old man) has been put to death and the life we've now taken up is the life of Christ!
Ok. that's probably way more than anyone wants to read in a day. Unless you really like this stuff like I do! Way to go if you made it this far!
