Saved for 40 years, but my Christian journey has only now begun!

Saved for 40 years, but my Christian journey has only now begun!

I've wondered around in blindness for 40 years, not as a lost soul in this world, but as a saved Christian in the denominational church 'system', —or should I put it, 'institution'. I'm tempted to say, "what a HUGE waste of time!", but within me, I sense instead, a gratitude for those experiences that kept me in touch with basic Christian practice, with fellowship, and that sheltered me from the world outside. Much more so, I am so grateful to the Lord that His love found me; that the gospel of His cross has produced in me the faith necessary to trust in Christ alone for my eternal salvation, having quickened my spirit, infusing it with life and an eternal hope.

I have always known that inner peace, that connection with God, that security of salvation through Christ, but these 40 years have seen very little growth in my spirit. Dear reader, let's be real! This is a tragedy, not just for me, but for many who have had the same experience! Forty years in the church system and all I can take from it is a few hymns, a few quotable verses, and a whole bunch of memories of kind people, wonderful meals and gatherings, and a few feel-good Bible lessons that kept me from dwelling too far off the straight and narrow.

Again, I am grateful, but I'm also annoyed and disappointed! I was a modern-day Israelite, journeying through the wilderness for 40 years, under the denominational law, under enforced doctrine and useless ordinances. I didn't even get to see miracles like the real Israelites did! Worse, I wasn't fed the daily manna from Paul's epistles that would allow my spirit to grow up, so that Christ could live out His life in me.

Yes, I can be blamed in part, as I had the privilege of having access to God's Word, which I could study for myself, but it could have been so much more beneficial at that time to have been taught regarding dispensational theology, encouraged to rightly divide the truth, and been guided through the progressive curriculum of Paul's epistles. With the proper exposure, how much more could I have been transformed in my mind, so as to be conformed in increasing manner to the image of Christ according to the will of God.

In closing this post, let me apologize for this lament, as it will not serve to change anything if I do not follow it up with some encouragement and inform the reader that there is a way to enter into that aforementioned 'modern Promised Land'. I plan to divulge the details in subsequent posts, but the key to our Canaan is the Bible; the book that has been ignored by the majority and misused by the clergy. Never before have I seen the value and transforming power encapsulated in its pages as I do now. The Bible is the pure words of God that nurtures a child and feeds the mature, that establishes a foundation and then stablishes us upon it, that informs us of God's plan and will, and then transforms us perfectly to participate in it. To achieve this, there is a specific form of doctrine within it, that, if believed, and studied, and applied in love, will bring us to a knowledge of Christ and perfect us for this role as members in particular of the Body of Christ. 

Introducing you to this 'form of doctrine', divided up into a series of short posts, is not a quick fix to all that is lacking in us, but, in the time we have left before Christ's appearing, it will help us to grow in Christ, produce the fruit that is valued by God and adjudged as gold at the Bema, and contribute to the maturing of that new man who will reign in heaven with Christ in the ages to come.

Look out for the posts in this series, and journey with me.

• Part 1: Salvation
• Part 2: A Process of Edification
• Part 3: Imputation and Propitiation, The Work of God's Love
• Part 4: The Two Natures of a Believer in Christ
• Part 5: Justification in Christ
• Part 6: Get out the map book and confirm the course
• Part 7: Sanctification, an Introduction and Motivation
• Part 8: The unfamiliar road called, "Grace"
• Part 9: The Babes of Corinth and the Children of Galatia
• Part 10: We are Married to Another
• Part 11: Let Us Settle Our Spiritual Position in Christ
• Part 12: What is it to walk by faith and in the Spirit?
• Part 13: Established in the Doctrine
• Part 14: Confirmation of our Spiritual Foundation

God bless