Grace, Not Flames

Spirituality Column #165
January 5, 2010
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Grace, Not Flames
By Bob Walters

A friend pondering a rare trip to church (possibly a life-time first … I didn’t ask) on Christmas Eve, commented, “I’ll probably burst into flames.”

Ho, ho, ho.

My, there is a lot packed into that statement: humor, surprise, humility, assumptions, conclusions, misinformation, and more than a hint of sarcasm.

But not much truth.

The comment reminded me of when I was baptized just a few years ago, wondering – considering my sin – if God would let me up out of the water.

Why is it that we think an encounter with God, like a baptism or a Christmas trip to church, is an exposure to punishment, rather than a bridge to the peace and safety of salvation?

Most of us – believer and non-believer alike – have figured out that our lives fall short of perfection; that “sin” isn’t a good thing. That my friend equated church with a Godly encounter is a good thing. Even wrapped in sarcasm, the fact that he “got” the sin thing is encouraging.

That he approached the throne of grace with fear and trepidation, i.e., “flames,” doesn’t say much for how we Christians present the throne of grace.

I wish more people readily understood that faith in Christ is the ultimate flame retardant; that any expression of that faith – even a mildly coerced Christmas trip to church – is an encounter with grace, not a fearful, flaming encounter with hell.

Christians should never allow the eternal, loving glory of God in heaven to be framed merely as the opposite of earthly sin, nor to think that what punches our ticket through the pearly gates on judgment day are fear, shame and guilt.

The Bible doesn’t provide many specifics about heaven or hell, but every bit of the Bible, ultimately, expresses God’s desire for a personal, loving, saving relationship with each of us.

God sent Jesus Christ to draw us near to Him, not to drive us away. Faith and God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8), not fear and our guilt, punch our ticket to salvation.

Quoting my wonderful Christian friend May: “Praise God that I am a sinner; it is the only thing that qualifies me for God’s grace.”

With Christmas – the birth of hope – a couple of weeks past, in this New Year let’s work on receiving, with hope and love, sinners like us into our churches. We’re all welcome.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) prays for the peace and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to dwell with us all in the coming year.

Strong Finish, New Beginning, Part 5

Spirituality Column #164
December 29, 2009
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Strong Finish, New Beginning, Part 5
By Bob Walters

The only New Year’s resolutions I’ve ever kept – maybe the only two I ever made – were to quit smoking (1994) and to read the entire Bible (2002).

I started early on both of them. I bought what I planned and hoped would be my last carton of cigarettes just before Christmas 1993, and started reading the Bible in December 2001.

I mentioned the resolution to quit smoking a couple of years ago (Jan. 1, 2008, Column #60, www.believerbob.blogspot.com) in the context of finding strength I didn’t know I had from a God I didn’t think I knew. It was one of several examples I trace in my previous non-church life of what minister Russ Blowers called “prevenient grace.”

That’s when God’s grace is mystically, actively bestowed upon us and we are sure we have a) done nothing to deserve it and b) not confessed faith in Christ.

“Prevenient” means antecedent and doesn’t appear in most dictionaries. “Prevenient Grace” is an actual theological construct within the Calvinist vs. Arminian, predestination vs. grace debate.

(As an aside: Calvinism vs. Arminianism typically is a heated conversation between believers. I don’t think it is of much value to seekers, skeptics and non-believers; only confusing and beside the main point. For an article that explains without preaching, go to www.bible-researcher.com and search “arminianism.” The “main point,” by the way, is Jesus Christ.)

Anyway, I quit smoking. Cold turkey. Prevenient grace. I’m still alive.

The resolution to read the entire Bible in 2002 followed my being baptized in November 2001. Many things fell in place that led me to Christ, and held me there, in the latter part of 2001.

One of the pieces was that my then-pastor Dave Faust announced a weekly walking-through-the-Bible class starting early 2002. As I contemplated Baptism, I wanted to know the Bible, and by taking my heart and mind through that door, I could “learn from Christ, not just about Him.” (Hat tip for that line goes to preacher Dave Mullins’ sermon at E91 a couple weeks ago.)

As I was in the final throes of the decision to be baptized, the Bible class was the last nudge I needed.

I could read, I could learn, I could walk in my new-found faith.

Smoking remains gone, and the Bible remains on board. These were not resolutions, they were gifts. They were the real Christ in Christmas, continued.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com or email rlwcom@aol.com) tends toward being a grace guy, with no specific prejudices against the predestination crowd.

Persevering in Those Resolutions

Spirituality Column #60
January 1, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Persevering in Those Resolutions
By Bob Walters

When I was a kid at church, the Episcopal priest one day was talking about the custom of giving up things for Lent (the 40 days before Easter).

He made fun of a mythical church adult who made a big deal about “giving up sweets for Lent” and was enjoying all the attention for the effort … but also still enjoying the sweets when out of public view.

The priest’s point – which stuck forever in my mind – was that it is very difficult to “give up” something when you advertise it to others.

That isn’t just a Bible or Christian thing; that is a Truth of Life as a Human Being thing: it is hard to do something hard when people are watching you.

Fourteen years ago, Jan. 1, 1994, I quit smoking. I just stopped. A pack or more a day habit for 13 and a half years … and I just stopped. Big New Years Eve party, smoked, got home around 1:30 a.m. Got up the next day and haven’t smoked since.

I had been contemplating quitting for a while. It was the year I turned 40. With sons ages 6 and almost 2, it was my love for them and my desire to see them grow up that inspired my wanting to quit. I marveled at how much strength I somehow found to actually follow through.

It is important to note at that time I was twenty-some years into my 30-years of not going to church and seven years before I came to the Lord. But remembering that childhood sermon about Lent, I didn’t tell anyone I was trying to quit smoking.

Except I told God, who I did not know very well. But I prayed anyway … who else could I tell? Looking back, that is where my strength came from.

Yes, we are to love others, find strength in others, and be strong for others. But nothing is as strong as our bond with God through Christ. Through Christ we can do all things.

This is the time of year we all have some sort of resolution, aspiration or hope for the New Year. Don’t feel you have to tell anyone about yours … except God.

He’ll help you. And He already knows anyway.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) wishes you a New Year rich in a deep, growing and abiding faith in Christ. That is something you should tell someone about.