Did He Die For You?

Something occurred to me this week. I hear people say in reference to Christ dying on the cross that he paid for the sins of the world. The reality is that He did NOT. Before you accuse me of false doctrine consider that if He did die for the sins of the whole world there would be no need for Hell. Selah. We all agree that Hell is a place for punishment. However if your sins are paid for then there is not debt to be paid and no punishment that needs to be enforced.

My point is that Christ died for those he knew would be redeemed. So let's say that there were 1.6 billion people throughout history that accepted the gift of salvation, then Christ took the sins of 1.6 billion people. Clear?

Some may say that my "revelation" is really not that big of a deal. Maybe not. Maybe you have already thought of it before I did. There is a high probability to that as I am a little slow sometimes. I really am just pointing out that our terminology is wrong. Not the first or the last time I'm sure.

As simple as my thought may be, this does lead us down the road to the very debated and humanly unsolvable topic of predestination. All I will say about that topic is that ultimately we cannot rationalize in our human mind, nor can we argue with what God chooses to do with HIS creation.

Many people have a hard time accepting that God chose or knows who will be saved and who will not. Hyper-calvanism takes this topic and runs crazy with their human perspective on a issue that clearly falls under the void in human understanding and finite reasoning.

For me, simple as I am, my thought that God died for me, one of his elect, drives me to one conclusive reaction. Worship! How can I not worship a God who called me even while I was young, placed me in a home that feared and worshiped the one true God, pursues me daily to be closer to Him as my Father, and has given me all the riches of His Son who took MY place. Why do we argue about things we cannot understand? Instead, let us worship in the reality that He is God and we are NOT. There is ultimate freedom in letting the Creator be the Creator and the creation be just that.

Balance

I have only been on this earth for 34 years. I'm not a wise person by many standards but I do think a lot and observe even though I also am a talker. So as I have grown older I find one thing very difficult to achieve and yet I have come to the conclusion that it is of the utmost importance in life. You can read the the title of this and know I am speaking of balance. It can also be referred to as priority. What get's first dibs from your attention.

As a follower of Jesus Christ the first priority in life is our relationship with Him. That's a no brainer. The next no brainer in the line of priority is family. 1 Timothy 5 covers that issue. But here is where I get hung up a bit. Between church and the work place (career).

I believe you should work to live not live to work. Of course that can be skewed if your idea of living is "high on the hog" as the saying goes. If one is to provide for his family, it requires holding down a job that usually requires a 40 hour week commitment at the least. Church on the other hand now requires quite a bit of time if you are to be involved on a deeper level than just coming to church on Sunday morning.

We often look to those in ministry as special people, and they are. They have a tremendous calling. All of us as believers are called to full time service though. People in paid full time ministry positions don't have to worry as much about the balance between making a living and serving the body of Christ. They get to do both at the same time.

I am searching for the balance. The fine or maybe not so fine line of working to grow a business and a career to provide for my family, and serving in an effective, committed way in Church. Not just on Sunday. Understand that I want to put more time into Church activities and ministry, NOT less, but not at the expense of my family or my job. I want to find the balance point. Some would say "you can never serve to much in God's work. He will take care of the rest". That would be essentially full time ministry. All to often men and women in full time and non-full time ministry have poured themselves so much into serving that they abandon their God given responsibilities to care for their families. They will, I believe, be held in judgment for that.


What I am saying is there needs to be a balance. So here is where I am with my priorities:

My walk with God
My Family
Work/Church

If I put work above church my priorities look off. If I put church above work I may loose my salary. You may have a clear direction on your list. Good for you.

This is tricky at best!