"Medicinal"

 "He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge".

Psalm 91: 3 & 4.

Ever find yourself reading a book on the faith that you've found really encouraging, and you get to around the mid-way point and, suddenly, it all goes badly wrong.

It happened to me this week. I'd been reading something that had been truly faith inspiring when suddenly the author brought up a name of a 'Christian' writer that made my innards tighten, only to be followed a sentence or two later with a further mention of the bad theological discipline this writer had been associated with (expressed in a positive way).

In the light of all the good things said so far, you want to be able to skip it and move on, so you try and excuse the "hiccup" here and proceed, but sure enough, right around the bend, there's an even bigger STOP! sign about to hit that you just cannot ignore.

Let me share with you a few lines and see if you can pick up the reason my alarm was ringing.

"When the bible says Christ came to redeem humanity it offers a whole lot more than forgiveness. To simply forgive a broken man is like telling someone running a marathon, "it's ok that you've broken your leg. I won't hold that against you. Now finish the race". That is cruel. No, there is much more".

Spot the problem here?

Redemption is seen here as making us those who 'run again'. Redemption is indeed total in its scope, but the only reason we can pick up our feet at all is because of where God wants to set our gaze, and it isn't towards our own "successful" actions, or our miserable incapacity (Hebrews 12:2).

Back in the 1500's following Luther's vital re-discovery of the Apostolic message of redemption (Salvation) entirely because of God's unmerited work in Jesus Christ, numerous new 'movements' and 'prophets' arose that quickly got busy about telling any who would listen how they could make themselves approved to God, usually by hearing some 'inner' voice that was deemed superior to what was written in scripture. Sometimes, as in Wittenberg, a genuine reformer managed to quell such extremism before it reached too far, but in some cities, whole communities of the 'godly' were formed around these 'perfectionist' ideals, as they severed themselves from all deemed impure because only they were truly God's own, and the way that they knew this was because they knew they were being renewed inwardly by the pure work of the spirit, not by the ridiculous teaching of Luther that God had redeemed us solely and entirely by the objective, finished work of Christ and His perfect righteousness being given to us only by grace.

Needless to say, such activities did not usually end well for those concerned, and generally caused a great deal of conflict in numerous places.

The same result always follows if we place our trust in some method or message other than Jesus Christ alone.

In Christianity, we follow a Lord who disables us from trusting our own abilities (Genesis 32:26) so He might bless us in spite of our selves (which is so evident in this particular example).

The Lord heals (redeems) us through His forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7) - that is the fountainhead whereby all grace and mercy towards us springs (Matthew 9:5).

It's so easy for us to slip into a mode of spirituality whereby what we're up to can allow us to suppose we're pleasing God greatly, especially if we perceive ourselves to be particularly "blessed" at the same time, but we can actually be sinking into a confidence in things that will dissolve when real troubles and trials arise, so placing our hope in the place where we reside beneath HIS overshadowing care and redeeming love is always where we must be.