These comments were all transferred over from the original website

Posted: November 8, 1999 by Heather

ok, you have my attention.

Please hurry up and finish your cliffhanging devotional. (and please continue to discuss decision making and peace, not just interpersonal relationships.)

Posted: November 8, 1999 by Sherri

Dear Shovel,

I do love the letter to the Colossians!! It is so massively, intensely, largely, imposingly, heavily, and solidly (do you get my point?) GOD - and Christ - cored, hearted, rooted, centered, seated, focused, directed, concentrated, channeled, devoted and focalized (it is a legitimate word, honest) !! :)

The other thing I have grown to love and appreciate in the letter to the Colossians is Paul's expressive use of prepositions and prepositional phrases. They link us together with GOD and Christ! :) They link everything we are to Christ Himself!! They specify all that we are, do, and have that makes us faithful, grace-ful, prayerful, hopeful, fruitful, knowledgeable, wise, worthy, pleasing, powerful, thankful, qualified, delivered, transferred, redeemed, forgiven, held together, reconciled, holy, blameless, beyond reproach, firmly established, steadfast, not moved away, complete, wealthy with the treasures of full assurance of understanding in a true knowledge of Christ Himself being in us (Jew and Gentile alike), circumcised of Christ, buried with Him, baptized with Him, raised with Him, made Alive with Him, triumphed through Him, chosen by Him, beloved by Him, having a New self, which is His-self in us, and united together in Him and His Peace, all by, in, through, because of, found in, and made possible by Him and Him alone! Redundancy is annoying, but it do make a point!! :)

I love how Paul reminds of who, how, what, where and when we are because of Christ and in Christ and by Christ, and not by, in, with, for, or because of ourselves or anyone else! And then he proceeds to warn us of those who continually pull our attention, focus, direction and minds away from this Truth Whom and which is where the Peace of GOD is found, onto the religious realm of such things that have only an appearance of wisdom in all that is self-made such as: self-abasement, false humilities, worshiping of angels, following after those who stand firm on their own visions and are inflated without cause by their own fleshly minds, and they do not hold fast to Jesus Christ and Him alone Who is the Head from Whom the entire Body of Christ is being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, growing with the growth that is from GOD!

These are those whose messages we are to avoid and protect ourselves and each other from, otherwise we are robbed of our assurances and peace and awareness of the prize, wealth, and treasure that we have in the knowledge of Christ and Who He is and what He has done for us, to us, and in us!!

This begs the question: If we have all and are all in Christ, then why do we go after and seek for that which we already have somewhere else and from someone else? Is it not because the deception is already so enmeshed in our minds that we spend most of our time needing to be deprogrammed from it?

We seek to be 'right with GOD'. Christ took care of that. Only He could. Done deal!
We seek for the 'peace of and with GOD'. Christ provided that for us, as only He could. Done deal!
We seek to have 'fellowship with GOD'. Christ provided that for us, as only He could. Done deal!
We seek the 'favor of GOD'. Christ provided that for us, as only He could. Done deal!
We seek 'forgiveness'. Christ provided that for us, as only He could. Done deal!
We seek to be in the Light. Christ is the Light and is now in us. How much more Light can anyone attain?
We seek the Love of GOD. Christ is the Love of GOD personified and is now in us. There is no other true Love to obtain.
We seek security. If GOD in Christ is in you, how much more security do you need?
We could go on and on ... but it is all found in Christ already! We seek for all that we already have! The deception comes in various subtleties and sometimes with not so much subtleness, convincing us that we do not have what we already have in Christ, and that we are not who we already have been made in Him. The deception is that we need more and have not enough. That speaks blatantly that Christ is not our sufficiency and that what He did was not good enough or complete. Well if it is good enough for GOD, why is it not good enough for us? Was that not the original lie ... that Adam and Eve were not good enough? That what GOD had done was not sufficient or good enough? That more was needed and could be attained? GOD HIMself spoke and proclaimed that it is good!! HE was satisfied with HIS work.

If it has been DONE, then why do we live as if more needs to be done? There can not be contentment, peace, or security in such mind-frames. Why should we find ourselves as tho' we are stuck in the hell and mind-set of the world with all of its forever - bondage to the compare - games and various other entrapments.

Christ has set us free! In Him we stand! In Him we walk! In Him we Live! In Him we are! In Him we be! :)

"nthmdst"

Posted: Dec-18-04 by the shovel
(This is a response to an anonymous comment)

I suspect most our beliefs about the will of God center around the intense need to feel justified in what we think and do. We want answers that make sense to our current viewpoints and experiences, for to say "It's God's will" probably has less to do with God (and our thoughts of God) than with our desire to not feel bad about another's pain and suffering. Especially when we benefit from the other's loss. It provides thumb-sucking comfort and relief ... one that seems to be validated by God himself.

"Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, and walk'?" (Matt 9:5)

It was not because one statement was less valid than the other, only that in the current word-based religion Jesus' words had been judged according to their own powerless verbal expressions. The religious community spoke of forgiveness all the time, but it was bound within the confines of strict scriptural legalities. This is to say, they all recognized their communication portrayed no REAL forgiveness - as that was entirely outside the scope of their belief system - but merely an official ritualistic satisfaction regarding the need for forgiveness. Thumb-sucking comfort.

This is the same reason why most talk of God's will is so impotent, so lacking any reality. It is not usually spoken to encourage faith and confidence but to force God's stamp of approval upon one's view of how things are working - or not working - out. It's just an easy thing to say. Speaking of the real will of God (Christ) especially as it contradicts the status quo will be judged by religious thumb-suckers according to their established teachings. Be not afraid to speak words of power - which is Christ and him crucified - though you be judged by authoritative sounding doctrines that would make you seem to be the enemy of God.

Love, Jim

Posted: Dec-21-04 by Kevin Kim

Christ crucified = Reconciliation = God in complete control of
circumstances/future in our lives?

Posted: Mar-07-05 by john e

To Sherri: "Well . . . AMEN!"

Posted: May-09-05 by csnarnia

My wife and I just struggled over this issue. She had her ticket to fly half way around the world literally and the day she was to leave I had "second thoughts." I really wanted her to go and so did she. We prayed together for direction and and ask a few friends for some quick counsel...hey the plans leaves in a few hours I resorted to "casting lots" and came up with the same answer three times in a row....but my precious wife couldn't accept that....She wanted to hear straight from me. "Honey I really believe it's God's will for you to go." After three lots in favor of going I was convinced it was time for her to go...but the whole situation confused her and she began to see all kinds of technical reasons why she wasn't ready to go...all of which were good reasons and could have been worked out through the day or after she arrived on the other end.

To make matters worse I am one of those confused, in fear, immobilized Christians quite a bit of the time. Big decisions and especially the assurance of salvation issue has been a mountain in my life over the last 25 year or so.

My father was a pastor and preached the cross, justification by faith and baptism as I perceived it. But he told me as a young man. "I believe as soon as man begins to believe in Jesus he is saved cause that can only be done by the Holy Spirit." But by then I was firmly caught in the the religious trap of many year of misperceptions.

Anyway my question is:

Is it a sin for a man to not have assurance of salvation?

I've only been reading your the shovel a week or so see a lot of grace here.

Posted: May-12-05 by the shovel

« Is it a sin for a man to not have assurance of salvation? »

If we sum all things up according to the law then I am sure we could pronounce such a "failure" as sin ... but then again, we are not of the law but of Christ.

We have for too long listened to the demand that we need to see things according to the flesh. Sin-consciousness forces us to judge everything as to whether it is sin or not. This is not life. Hear the voice of your father who by Christ has made all things new. :)

Jim