message received

So, here’s what I’ve been wondering about lately. I’m not through thinking it through, but writing helps, so here goes…

Growing up in an evangelical church all my life, having Christian parents, reading Christian books, hearing Christian music, etc., etc. I’ve pretty much always known how to get “saved”. By saved, in this paragraph, I mean have my sins forgiven and be assured of going to heaven when I die. I knew that to be “saved” I needed to be ‘born again’, which in practical terms means that I needed to acknowledge (even though only on a very superficial level) that Jesus had died for my sins, and ‘receive’ Him into ‘my heart’.

I was five when I ‘received’ Him into ‘my heart’ and it was a very real experience for me. I didn’t even know about the “Jesus died for my sins part.” I just had this sense of safety and love and acceptance from Jesus whenever my mom or dad would pray with me at bed-time. It was definitely from Jesus and I mentioned this to my mom. She said I could have that feeling, that sense all the time if I invited Jesus into my heart. So I did.

I learned about the dying part when I was ten, and was mortified! My Jesus…MY Jesus was crucified?? That’s horrible! How could they do that?? What’s that you’re saying? You’re saying that my sin, MY sin put him there? He died for MY sin?? It was very traumatic for me. Very real. That was my first time hearing the concept that one needs to accept Jesus as “Lord.” Which I did (although only on a very superficial level.)

You’ve heard that before, right?? The distinction between accepting Jesus as Saviour, and accepting Jesus as Lord? We all talk about the difference between simply (as if there’s anything simple about it) being saved from hell when I die, and being saved from the ‘hell’ here on earth. We talk about it in terms of ‘salvation’ being a one-time contract that God makes with us. We accept him as Saviour…he takes us to heaven when we die. Simple as that. Jesus’ blood covered/paid the penalty for our sins. It’s a done deal. It’s good news.

But it doesn’t take long before ‘pie in the sky by and by’ is just a long way off, and it’s just not much help in the here and now. Life’s messy in the here and now. I prove to myself over and over again that I can’t cut the mustard, so to speak. I can’t meet the standards that I set for myself. I fail myself, and others (and supposedly God) over and over.

The answer to this problem has already long ago been solved, but I am not aware. So I begin to hear things about accepting Jesus as Lord. Unfortunately many of these messages were heard along with an unhealthy load of ‘trying harder’ and ‘feeling remorse,’ but the underlying truth about accepting Jesus as Lord was there. We call it something different now. We call it ‘abiding in Christ.’ THANKFULLY we’ve left off most of the ‘trying harder’ and the ‘feeling remorse’ and are learning to ‘let go and let God,’ to allow the life of Christ to live through us.

Now, it used to be that accepting Christ as Lord was presented sort of as a one-time commitment that I made to God. Christ as Saviour was God’s commitment to me…Christ as Lord was my commitment to Him. It was meant to be a one-time thing, but, since I sucked,…I’d have to do it many times. I, personally, was very fortunate to have wonderful ‘abiding in Christ’ type parents, so I never really bought into the whole ‘my commitment to Him’ type teaching. But I heard it. Many, MANY times.

I don’t look at it as being a commitment at all, at least not on my part. Again it is Jesus’ commitment to me. IF I will let Him, He WILL live His life through me. He will love through me, he will forgive through me, he will be (BE) my joy, my peace, my patience, my hope, even my obedience. IF I will ‘receive’ Him as Lord. Receive. Believe. Accept. If I will dare to believe that this is TRUE, that Jesus didn’t intend us to go it alone, to tough it out till heaven, then life in the here and now will be different for me. IF I believe the TRUTH then I will be free. Free from sin, free from the law, free from the tyranny of self, free from worry, free from guilt, free from fear.

So now, I have really ‘received Christ’ twice. Once as Saviour, once as Lord. Right?? Or not?? (this is getting long) Can the answer be both yes and no? When I receive Jesus, I get the whole deal, but…I am unaware. I received what was presented to me. Escape from hell, forgiveness of sin, is what was presented…I received it. Escape from ‘hell on earth,’ life in Christ, is what was presented…I received it. I did not experience either thing until it was first: presented, and second: received. I did get everything when I asked Jesus into my heart. But I still don’t know what “everything’ is. I believe there are things about the finished work of Christ, about the everything, that have not yet been ‘presented’ to me.

Do you think it possible that I will have the privilege of ‘receiving Christ’ a third time? For it is truly a privilege. Say, maybe, as Healer?? Do you think that maybe the same process of being ‘presented’ with the TRUTH, processing it, thinking on it, being offended by it, rejecting it, hearing it again, processing, thinking, doubting, hearing, praying, and asking, finally meets with faith so I can ‘receive’ Christ as Healer? Did we not go through this whole process before we ‘received’ Christ as Saviour, and again before we received Him as Lord. Why wouldn’t it be the same to receive Christ as Healer? Was the process, the questioning, the doubting, the toomanywhatifs… worth it the first two times?

“Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” But how can they hear unless someone tells them??