Monday, June 4, 2018
603 - The Eyes of the Lord
Spirituality Column #603
June 5, 2018
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
The Eyes of the Lord
By Bob Walters
“The eyes of the LORD
are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” – Proverbs 15:3
“How do I
know if I am saved?” wonders too-much of the Christian world.
While the
answer to that divine Book-of-Life question is written on, or sometimes hidden
in, our routinely conflicted human hearts, the place to start looking isn’t in
“what I know” but rather in “what God knows.”
And it’s pretty clear, God knows everything.
That right
there should be enough to spiritually scare or functionally discourage any of
us unless we go beyond the logical and brain-game retributional realm of “who
knows what” and into the faith-laden truth of “what God promises.” It’s when one starts focusing on God’s
promises and trusting God’s character that the melodrama of Hell eases and the
peace and assurance of Christ’s victory over evil delivers us from our own evil
into God’s glory, i.e., salvation.
We call that deliverance from evil
“forgiveness,” but God’s saving forgiveness isn’t an action-reaction, weigh the
options, trade-in our sins kind of thing.
It is a God’s glorious loving gift through Jesus Christ kind of thing. We keep thinking it can’t happen without some
kind of punishment – of us – because that’s how our legal and cultural system
works. You sin, you pay. We complicate our image of salvation greatly
by imputing our sin-weary worldly experience onto the authority and perfection
of Christ.
Fact is, God’s ways are not our
ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) and our best view of that piece of scripture should be,
“Thank you, God,” not, “What are you hiding from me?” The work of Jesus is love, the motivation of
God is love, and we ask, “How do I know?”
Funny we should ask when the entire
point of salvation isn’t knowledge of things seen but “faith in things unseen.” (Hebrews 11:1) That makes it sort of not polite to ask a
question like “How do I know?” Time and
again in the Bible we see Jesus addressing such “prove it” inquiries from
disciples, Pharisees, and others not with patience but with demonstrable
hostility or withering parables. Faith
is the point; not knowledge.
If you’re truly wondering if you
are saved, that’s a good sign. It means
you are just an inch or so from the proper forum for that inquiry, which is
quiet prayer. It’ll never show up in
your works, your station, your knowledge, or your wisdom. But if you are praying just to check on the
status of your salvation, you must realize you are praying about your own
glory, not the glory of God. You
probably won’t like the answer.
Wicked or good, we can’t surprise
God, fool God, or bargain with God. But
we can talk with Him. Do you sincerely
wonder about your salvation? Here’s a
pretty good “tell”: Do you realize God is always
there? He sees all. You may think He is absent but it is our own
hearts that are hard. Confess to God all
your sins because it will make you feel better.
Trust all that the Bible reveals about Jesus. Love Him, and share the love.
When your love of God overcomes
your love of self, you’ll likely quit worrying about whether you are
“saved.” And that is the very best sign
of all.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) finds peace in knowing he can’t hide from
God, and in that “wicked and good” line personally senses the enormity of God’s
forgiveness.
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