It’s hard to love our enemies. It’s challenging to be kind to those who disagree with our message. And sometimes, because of our differences, we get the gospel in the wrong order. We reverse it. We make it faith, then grace. We wait for people to think like us, act like us, believe like us, and behave like us.
Then, when they finally do, we are kind to them. But this is not how the gospel works. We need to put things in order.
Scripture teaches us that people are saved by grace through faith—they’re not saved by faith through grace. It’s through God’s grace that creates conditions for faith. Don’t get it twisted.
Tyson and Whitehead said it like this:
The gay community hears the church say: “Change your ways, then God will love you.” The Muslim community hears: “Change your ways, then we will love you.” The atheists hears: “Believe in God, then he will love you.” But what Jesus actually says is, “I love you now. Just the way you are. Come to me. Receive my grace.”
You don’t have to change for God to love you. God loves you just the way you are. This is what enables you to change.
Keep the gospel in order: grace, then faith.
Question to mull over: Is there anything else you feel is twisted or flip-flopped when people talk about the gospel?
“Scripture teaches us that people are saved by grace through faith—they’re not saved by grace through faith. It’s through God’s grace that creates conditions for faith.”
But they ARE saved BY grace, through faith…
Am I missing something?
Thanks for the fix!
No way!!! Thank YOU for catching it 😉
Thank you for writing this.
HUGE pet peeve of mine.
Seriously! We need to get it together & love people (easier said then done, of course). I think it’s sad when Christians are so turned off by gays & lesbians that they cannot minister to them:( Where’s the love?
Amen, chica!
I’ve been struggling with the “once saved, always saved”….what do you think about that? And if possible can you please give scripture references? Thank you 🙂
This just comes from bible study notes, so it’s not super thorough, but hopefully it’s helpful. John 10:28 says “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” So when we accept the gift of salvation and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and Savior, we become His. Romans 8:38-39 also confirms this in saying that nothing (height nor depth, ect.) can separate us from the love of God that’s in Jesus our Lord.
With the issue of assurance of salvation, we should be able to look at the Bible. 1 John 5:13 says that salvation exists, Romans 8:16 says that we should know by the presence of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately, like it says in the Bible, we should know by what ‘fruit’ we produce and by our attitudes towards others (which should coincide with God’s will)
However, the Bible also says in 1 John 2:18-19 that those who might have said they were Christians were actually not part of the family the entire time. The example I was given was a person who served the church and then grew apart from and committed sins all the rest of his/her life. Personally, I think the verse is also letting us know that we really can’t judge someone else’s faith, but rather only our own because only at the last times will we truly know.
Sorry if this is so long!! Please correct me if there are biblically incorrect things, because this chapter of a bible study is taught quite frequently at my church. But if I had to shorten it, it’d be that yes, once saved, always saved. However, (1) you really must have confessed, repented, and accepted, and (2) there should be ‘fruitful’ evidence, whether that’s inside or outside.
Bianca!! This is why i love you so much. You just put so perfectly. Thank you!! Really, Thank you!
Yes we are to come to God as we are, but remember he wants us to sin no more as he told the woman caught in adultery. God is not mocked, we cannot live how we want and then expect to inherit the Kingdom of God. As far as once save always saved goes, read Ezekial 18, that sure didn’t apply to those in the Old Testament. Also read Revelation 22:18-19. I think the church is bending to the worlds way of thinking when it comes to homosexuality. We are to love them but the best way to do that is to preach the unaldulterated truth without fear. I mean if you saw a child criossing the street and the car was about to hit him would you be soft and fuzzy and tell him how much you love him or would you boldy exhort him to get out of the way. People are dying and going to hell everyday and Jesus has given us the great commission to preach the gosple unto all the world. It is the Jesus of the gospel that saves not anything else, whether it be Muhammed, Mary or Buddha. Read Corinthians 6:9-10, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor theives, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And therein lies the rub. Why would someone want to receive grace for something they feel is not a sin or, maybe agree that it is, but fear being condemned for it. I’m all for grace, but it’s just not that simple taken within a larger context.
Also, I glad you brought up another point I’ve been thinking about. It’s so often pointed out to me that “Why would God let good people go to hell?” But we aren’t good, so we need grace and (as someone pointed out in the earlier comments) are saved through faith.
Just a few thoughts. Incomplete, but it got me thinking some more….
Great post Bianca! Jesus loves us NOW as we are. Seems lately we`re always been reminded of the conditions to receive love.
🙂
Thanks Bianca!
Yes, we must display grace as God does – it is not our job to judge or condemn.
Yet at the same time, Dr D thank you for pointing out that THERE ARE SOULS AT RISK every day, because we as believers and children of the living God are not standing up for what is true, right, honest and pure. We are hiding in our comfortable bubble, too scared to go out proclaiming the love of Jesus, and share His Good News and the life-change He will bring about if we take hold of His grace and turn from our sinful ways, to His righteousness…
Just my thoughts for now 🙂
I just saw a blog comment of yours on another blog and thought, she looks familiar. Isn’t she a wedding photog? Yes, and a great blogger. Pleasant find!
two thumbs up!
Love this! My job requires me to be reminded of this constantly! One thing I’ve been mulling through in relation to how people share the Gospel or even talk about the Bible. Sometimes (and I’ve done this too) the gospel is shared as if is how so often Christians share the gospel as if it’s a 5 step plan that all hems from the NT. Or the Bible is portrayed as having two parts that aren’t really connected with the OT being for people long ago and the NT being for those living today. Yet, God’s Word is a story book, and from the beginning, that story book has encapsulated God’s desire and plan to be in relationship with us. It portrays his unchanging character from beginning to end. So yeah. I could go on and on because I love this kind of stuff, but that’s my two sense in a nutshell. 😉
Bianca, thank you for your service to the Lord, and for allowing him to use you!!
I think this is a concept that many Christians today misinterprets. There is a gospel revolution going on about the Grace of God that cannot be earned through work but just has to be received. A lot of us try to earn God’s love by obeying the law, but God just loves us like you say- despite whatever we are. Thank you for posting this up, His grace is sufficient for me.