Accepting God's Will - Why Does It Cost Us?
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
SUMMARY: Salvation is free, but following Christ is expensive. We must not conform to the values of this world, which is antagonistic to God. The gospel is not just about receiving salvation, but about bearing fruit and living a transformed life. We must honor modern Christian martyrs by living a committed and sacrificial life, sharing the gift of eternal life with others. This is our beautiful task and rich inheritance.
It is one thing to receive Christ and another to follow Christ. It is one thing to celebrate salvation and another to bear fruit in salvation. It is one thing to be born into a new life and another thing to live the new life.
Even though the Lord teaches us in the Bible that salvation is free, following Christ is astonishingly expensive, but proportionately more glorious. Too bad that sometimes even we Christians forget it completely. We often conform to the nonsense and promises of this world and its culture of exalting self-esteem, self-sufficiency and self-confidence and we descend, without realizing it, to Christ of the cross, that is, we underestimate the real value of his precious blood that made us free forever, his children until eternity. Paul exhorts us from God: "Do not conform to the world of today", or what is the same, do not imitate or contaminate yourself with the follies of this age. And it is that the world is a system of values incompatible with the way and the design of life that the Lord wants for us. The world tries to mold us, put us in its own mold to destroy us and keep us asleep so as not to give glory to God. The world is a kingdom antagonistic to God that is governed by the desires of the flesh and the pride of life. The world, with its own culture, religions and lifestyles, is walking in the opposite direction to the glory of God.
The gospel is a one-sided coin. The time of "... now close your eyes, bow your face and repeat this prayer after me" is giving way to a more committed, more long-suffering, less sweetened and definitely more biblical gospel. A gospel that has the cross of Christ as a mirror and not the prosperity and false promises that they want to sell us as a guarantee of a salvation that we can do nothing to earn, but receive it by grace.
If we want to know God's will, we will have to make sacrifices, submit to Him, walk with Him behind the promises of this world, of this century. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia of 1997 each year more than 160,000 Christians die on the planet approximately; they die for Christ, for not denying their faith, they die victims of hatred and violence, of religious fanaticism that denies the sovereignty of the only savior. We must honor these modern martyrs of Christianity with the testimony of truly transformed lives. We cannot conform to this century, or the next. Many of us live a Christianity with some comfort. We are rejected, but not persecuted, we are offended, but not tortured. Let us take care to live with our gaze fixed on Christ bearing the fruits of salvation, preaching the gospel of reconciliation with our Heavenly Father. Let's use the gift of eternal life to share it with a world that is self-destructing by greed and hatred. You and I have a lot to share, a lot to offer and always more to sacrifice for Christ and for others. That is the will of God, our beautiful task and our rich inheritance. May God help us to be worthy of this privilege!
Even though the Lord teaches us in the Bible that salvation is free, following Christ is astonishingly expensive, but proportionately more glorious. Too bad that sometimes even we Christians forget it completely. We often conform to the nonsense and promises of this world and its culture of exalting self-esteem, self-sufficiency and self-confidence and we descend, without realizing it, to Christ of the cross, that is, we underestimate the real value of his precious blood that made us free forever, his children until eternity. Paul exhorts us from God: "Do not conform to the world of today", or what is the same, do not imitate or contaminate yourself with the follies of this age. And it is that the world is a system of values incompatible with the way and the design of life that the Lord wants for us. The world tries to mold us, put us in its own mold to destroy us and keep us asleep so as not to give glory to God. The world is a kingdom antagonistic to God that is governed by the desires of the flesh and the pride of life. The world, with its own culture, religions and lifestyles, is walking in the opposite direction to the glory of God.
The gospel is a one-sided coin. The time of "... now close your eyes, bow your face and repeat this prayer after me" is giving way to a more committed, more long-suffering, less sweetened and definitely more biblical gospel. A gospel that has the cross of Christ as a mirror and not the prosperity and false promises that they want to sell us as a guarantee of a salvation that we can do nothing to earn, but receive it by grace.
If we want to know God's will, we will have to make sacrifices, submit to Him, walk with Him behind the promises of this world, of this century. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia of 1997 each year more than 160,000 Christians die on the planet approximately; they die for Christ, for not denying their faith, they die victims of hatred and violence, of religious fanaticism that denies the sovereignty of the only savior. We must honor these modern martyrs of Christianity with the testimony of truly transformed lives. We cannot conform to this century, or the next. Many of us live a Christianity with some comfort. We are rejected, but not persecuted, we are offended, but not tortured. Let us take care to live with our gaze fixed on Christ bearing the fruits of salvation, preaching the gospel of reconciliation with our Heavenly Father. Let's use the gift of eternal life to share it with a world that is self-destructing by greed and hatred. You and I have a lot to share, a lot to offer and always more to sacrifice for Christ and for others. That is the will of God, our beautiful task and our rich inheritance. May God help us to be worthy of this privilege!
