Giving Birth

 

 

I dreamed that I have just given birth to a baby girl. I feel fine, not tired or sore as would be normal after labor and delivery, as if someone else did all the work.

I haven’t seen her yet, but the nurses assure me that she is beautiful and perfect, and they show me pictures. One is a photo of a beautiful young woman, with soft, blonde wavy hair framing her face like a halo, wearing light makeup that looks very natural and enhances her symmetrical features. The other is a pencil sketch, with a map or diagram across her forehead showing different facets of her personality and where they reside in her brain.

I’m surprised by the pictures, as she appears full grown rather than newborn, and I long to see her right away. My husband and son are in the room and I call out to them, “Let’s go see her – everybody wash your hands!”

But the nurses say they are still working on her, and she’s not ready for us to see her yet.

When I awoke from the dream, it was with a sense of longing to see this new creation that was part of me. I realized that the girl in the dream represented the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15) that I am in Christ, now that I am born again (John 3:3-8) by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven.

The Bible speaks of the newly saved Christian as a babe in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1), first needing the spiritual nourishment of the sincere milk of the Word (Hebrews 5:13; 1 Peter 2:2), or its simple yet perfect truths of salvation through faith by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Just as we do not and cannot work for our salvation, for all our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), I experienced no labor in the dream, and hence no fatigue, for Jesus Christ Himself accomplished all the work (Isaiah 64:6) needed for my spiritual rebirth. He paid the price in full for my sin debt through His shed blood on the cross (Romans 3:25).

At the moment we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we are not only born again (John 3:3-8), but justified through His righteousness, which is credited to our account (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:16-18). When God the Father looks at us from that moment on, He no longer sees our sins, but only the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. All our sins are debited to His account, and His perfect standing and inheritance of eternal life in Heaven are credited to our account (Romans 8:17).

This is known as positional justification. Were we to die moments after being saved, we would immediately go to Heaven, like the thief who accepted Christ in his dying moments on the cross, even though there was no time for him to be baptized, attend church, read Scripture, or do any good works in the Name of Jesus (Luke 23:42-43).

A newborn is not expected to remain in the nursery for long, but to grow and mature into an adult, each with their own personality, attributes, and responsibilities. After we are born again, we are to mature in our Christian walk, being fed with more challenging portions of “meat” from God’s Word (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12) and becoming more like Christ each day (1 Corinthians 1:30).

This process of progressive sanctification was symbolized in my dream by the “newborn” pictures actually resembling a young adult, with a beautiful face and “brain map” indicating a complex personality, both of which God Himself fashioned since before the beginning of time (Psalm 139:14-16).

In the dream, I shared my desire to see this new creation with my family and wanted them to see her too, but I also wanted us all to wash our hands first, symbolizing the spiritual cleansing that takes place through the washing of the water of God’s Word (Ephesians 5:26).

Sadly, we were not yet allowed to see her, reflecting that the ultimate expression of God’s new creation in each believer will be our glorified body that He gives us at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:42-58). At that time, we will experience eternal glorification. We will know Him and one another perfectly, as we ourselves are now known by Him. We will live forever in our glorified body that will never age, sin, die, or experience illness, sorrow, or pain.

But in the meantime, full understanding of Jesus Christ, of Heaven and of what we will be like eternally eludes our grasp, for we still see as through a glass, darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In Bible times when the apostle Paul penned these words, glass was not clear, flat and free of impurities as window glass is today, but was cloudy, wavy and distorted. You might be able to tell that someone was passing by your window, but you wouldn’t be able to recognize or describe them. Such is our present view of the glories of Heaven that await us, and of our eternal companions, the saints in light!

The dream reminded me of how I long for the Rapture, for Christ to come again, and for my aging body to be transformed into a glorified body, to live forever with Him and my loved ones in Him in the abundant joy and perfect peace of Heaven. But no man knows the day or hour when that will occur (Mark 13:32), and we can rest assured that God’s timing is always perfect.

Meanwhile, once we are born again, may we continue in our Christian walk to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ until that glorious day when we see Him face to face!

© 2022 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the arch

Giving Birth

 

I dreamed that I have just given birth to a baby girl. I feel fine, not tired or sore as would be normal after labor and delivery, as if someone else did all the work.

I haven’t seen her yet, but the nurses assure me that she is beautiful and perfect, and they show me pictures. One is a photo of a beautiful young woman, with soft, blonde wavy hair framing her face like a halo, wearing light makeup that looks very natural and enhances her symmetrical features. The other is a pencil sketch, with a map or diagram across her forehead showing different facets of her personality and where they reside in her brain.

I’m surprised by the pictures, as she appears full grown rather than newborn, and I long to see her right away. My husband and son are in the room and I call out to them, “Let’s go see her – everybody wash your hands!”

But the nurses say they are still working on her, and she’s not ready for us to see her yet.

When I awoke from the dream, it was with a sense of longing to see this new creation that was part of me. I realized that the girl in the dream represented the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15) that I am in Christ, now that I am born again (John 3:3-8) by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven.

The Bible speaks of the newly saved Christian as a babe in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1), first needing the spiritual nourishment of the sincere milk of the Word (Hebrews 5:13; 1 Peter 2:2), or its simple yet perfect truths of salvation through faith by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Just as we do not and cannot work for our salvation, for all our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), I experienced no labor in the dream, and hence no fatigue, for Jesus Christ Himself accomplished all the work (Isaiah 64:6) needed for my spiritual rebirth. He paid the price in full for my sin debt through His shed blood on the cross (Romans 3:25).

At the moment we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we are not only born again (John 3:3-8), but justified through His righteousness, which is credited to our account (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:16-18). When God the Father looks at us from that moment on, He no longer sees our sins, but only the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. All our sins are debited to His account, and His perfect standing and inheritance of eternal life in Heaven are credited to our account (Romans 8:17).

This is known as positional justification. Were we to die moments after being saved, we would immediately go to Heaven, like the thief who accepted Christ in his dying moments on the cross, even though there was no time for him to be baptized, attend church, read Scripture, or do any good works in the Name of Jesus (Luke 23:42-43).

A newborn is not expected to remain in the nursery for long, but to grow and mature into an adult, each with their own personality, attributes, and responsibilities. After we are born again, we are to mature in our Christian walk, being fed with more challenging portions of “meat” from God’s Word (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12) and becoming more like Christ each day (1 Corinthians 1:30).

This process of progressive sanctification was symbolized in my dream by the “newborn” pictures actually resembling a young adult, with a beautiful face and “brain map” indicating a complex personality, both of which God Himself fashioned since before the beginning of time (Psalm 139:14-16).

In the dream, I shared my desire to see this new creation with my family and wanted them to see her too, but I also wanted us all to wash our hands first, symbolizing the spiritual cleansing that takes place through the washing of the water of God’s Word (Ephesians 5:26).

Sadly, we were not yet allowed to see her, reflecting that the ultimate expression of God’s new creation in each believer will be our glorified body that He gives us at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:42-58). At that time, we will experience eternal glorification. We will know Him and one another perfectly, as we ourselves are now known by Him. We will live forever in our glorified body that will never age, sin, die, or experience illness, sorrow, or pain.

But in the meantime, full understanding of Jesus Christ, of Heaven and of what we will be like eternally eludes our grasp, for we still see as through a glass, darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In Bible times when the apostle Paul penned these words, glass was not clear, flat and free of impurities as window glass is today, but was cloudy, wavy and distorted. You might be able to tell that someone was passing by your window, but you wouldn’t be able to recognize or describe them. Such is our present view of the glories of Heaven that await us, and of our eternal companions, the saints in light!

The dream reminded me of how I long for the Rapture, for Christ to come again, and for my aging body to be transformed into a glorified body, to live forever with Him and my loved ones in Him in the abundant joy and perfect peace of Heaven. But no man knows the day or hour when that will occur (Mark 13:32), and we can rest assured that God’s timing is always perfect.

Meanwhile, once we are born again, may we continue in our Christian walk to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ until that glorious day when we see Him face to face!

© 2022 Laurie Collett

 

Are Christians Narrow-Minded?

Photo of Needle's Eye by KitCat7211 2018

In today’s climate of wishing to be “politically correct,” many promote tolerance of all opinions so as not to offend anyone. Although well-intentioned, such “open-mindedness” can be disastrous for Christians and for those they encounter. As the saying goes, let’s not be so open-minded that our brains fall out.

As Christians, our mandate is to speak the truth in love, motivated by genuine concern that no one would go to hell (Luke 16:22-26; Psalm 9:17; Matthew 5:29-30; 10:28;18:9;23:33, etc.), but instead would come to a saving knowledge of that truth (John 8:32,36; 2 Timothy 1:7-13). Many followers of other religions ask if God is unfair, or why a loving God would send people to hell. God does not send anyone to hell, as His desire is that none would suffer eternal damnation, but that all would come to repentance and salvation (2 Peter 3:9). He offers salvation to all as a free gift, but He created us with free will, so it is up to each of us to accept or reject it.

God is a Righteous Judge, and His holiness demands that sin be punished (Psalm 7:11; Revelation 19:11). If a criminal is found guilty in our courts, it is the duty of the judge to determine a fitting punishment, not to let the criminal go free because of some good work he had also done. What is amazing is not that God’s holiness requires punishment for sin, but rather that His grace and mercy allow those who trust in His Son to have abundant, eternal life (John 10:10).

If we believe in the Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit – described in the Bible, then God’s divinely inspired, infallible Word must be the sole basis for our doctrine and beliefs (2 Timothy 3:16). Jesus Christ, Who is Son of God and God Himself (2 Corinthians 1:19; 1 John 4:15; 5:5; 2 John 1:9), said “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life, and no one cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME” (John 14:6; emphasis mine).

Yes, Christianity is narrow-minded, excluding other faiths as paths to salvation, for as Jesus said, many paths lead to destruction, and many follow those paths. Yet there is only one, narrow, straight gate leading to eternal life, and few find it (Matthew 7:13-14). For those who have achieved riches or worldly success that may create a false sense of pride, being saved may be more difficult than it is for a camel to go through a needle’s eye (Matthew 19:21-26).

Sadly, the world is full of people with sincere, yet misplaced, faith in their own path. Some of these people may appear to be kinder, more loving, more moral, and certainly more tolerant than many professing Christians, so who are we to question their beliefs? Yet if we don’t, we will have to answer for our silence, which may have contributed to their destruction.

Many of the false religions offer some semblance of hope, satisfaction, and moral structure. Their adherents follow the traditions of these religions to justify themselves in their own eyes, and to work their way to divine acceptance and eternal happiness. Even those brought up as Christians may fall into the trap of thinking they are worthy of God’s acceptance because they were baptized, attend church, tithe, pray, study the Bible, visit the sick, or do other good works.

But all have sinned and cone short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), and any attempts at our own righteousness are as filthy in God’s eyes as putrid bandages falling off a leper’s sores (Isaiah 64:6). We are not saved by our own works, but by His grace through our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, sinless Son of God, as the only Way to Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) Through a mystery we can’t begin to understand until we reach glory, when God looks at believers, He sees not our sins, but only the perfect righteousness of His Son (Romans 4:6-8).

God created Adam and Eve in perfection and innocence but with free will. When they chose to disobey, sin and death entered the world (Genesis 3). God, being perfectly pure, holy and just, had to cleanse us from that sin if we are to enter into fellowship with Him and have eternal life. His perfect plan of salvation was to offer His only Son, Who had no sin, as the sacrifice to pay for all our sin (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Salvation through Jesus (Yeshua), Whose very Name means salvation, includes propitiation, or appeasing the wrath of God (1 John 2:2); redemption, or paying the purchase price to buy us out of slavery to sin (1 Peter 1:18-19); remission, or removal of sin (Acts 10:43); and justification, or making us “just as if” we had never sinned. Once we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive immediate, priceless blessings and eternal rewards.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

As sin entered the world through Satan’s deception and man’s disobedience, so did false religions. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44) and continues to deceive many by adding to God’s Word, taking away from it, or changing it (Genesis 3:1-5). False prophets abound, more so as we reach the end times, appearing to be godly, yet deceiving many and leading to their destruction (Matthew 7:15; 2 Timothy 3:5-7).

Misleading anyone, whether a child or adult, into believing that there is more than one path to eternal life could result in that person’s damnation. As Jesus said, judgment will be particularly harsh for anyone who offends (misleads) a child who believes in Him (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2).

Born-again Christians who have placed their faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only way to Heaven have a responsibility to know what they believe, and to teach others the truth about salvation, no matter how exclusive it may seem.

If there is only one cure for a fatal disease, what good is it to tell others about false “cures” to avoid offending anyone? If they trust the false “cure,” they may not be offended, but they will surely die. Born-again believers know the cure for sin and death, and the way to eternal life! (Proverbs 8:35). It comes only through faith in Jesus Christ and His completed work of salvation on the cross as the perfect Sacrifice to pay for the sins of the whole world.

It is not up to us to Christians to judge who is saved, for only God knows the hearts (Psalm 44:21; Luke 16:15; Acts 15:8). Nor is it our job to “save” anyone, for only the Holy Spirit can do that. Our job is to witness to others of what God has done in our life and to teach them Bible truth – the Good News of the Gospel – so that they will know it and can believe it, and have eternal, abundant life with Him in Heaven (Romans 10:14).

May we not be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone has the power to save everyone! (Romans 1:16) May we be bold and faithful to proclaim Jesus Christ, no matter how “narrow-minded” it may seem!

© 2013 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives

 

Triplets of Hope: The Just Shall Live by Faith

Photo: Andreas F. Borchert 2015

In the New Testament, there are three mentions of our study verse – the just shall live by faith –(Romans 1:17; Galatians.3:11; Hebrews 10:38 ). All three were written by the apostle Paul, if we assume that he is the author of Hebrews as well as of the other two epistles. In Romans 1, he describes himself as a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (v. 1). All of these make him just, or holy and righteous, not by his own merit but by his relationship to Jesus Christ our Lord (v.3).

Only the Lord Jesus Christ (v.,7) can justify, or reconcile, sinful man to holy, Triune God, for He alone is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). He is the Son of Man, or the seed of David according to the flesh (Romans 1:3), as well as the Son of God (God the Father) empowered by the spirit of holiness (Holy Spirit), Who raised Him from the dead (v.4).

When we are made just by having faith in Christ, we can live in Him! The essential belief we must have to be saved is that He died as the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins, was buried, and rose again to give us eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 3:16).

Our abundant life in Him (John 10:10) includes the daily benefits of His ongoing grace; the privilege of apostleship, meaning that He has called, empowered, and sent us to be His ambassadors; and obedience to His Word, demonstrating our faith (Romans 1: 5-6). We are His beloved, to whom He gives grace and peace (v. 7). Following Paul’s example, we worship Him with thanksgiving, service, and prayer (v. 8-10).

Paul’s prayer for himself and the Roman church is that he could visit them, give them a spiritual gift to strengthen their faith, and be comforted with them by their shared faith in Christ (v. 11-13). He is thankful for the blessing of having led Romans, Greeks, and Barbarians to the Lord (v. 13-14) through the gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (v.16).

That brings Paul to his summary statement, in which he repeats the word “faith” three times: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (v. 17).

In contrast to Paul’s description in the above verses of the blessings of living justified by faith, his next mention, in Galatians 3, of “the just shall live by faith” points out the dangers of attempting to be self-righteous, which brings only condemnation by the law. He calls the Galatians foolish, bewitched, and disobedient for not believing the truth of the sufficiency of Christ’s perfect sacrifice (v. 1).

Paul asks them three times whether they received the Spirit, began their new life in the Spirit, and were ministered to by the Spirit by keeping the law, by being justified in their flesh, or by the hearing of faith (v. 2,3,5). Of course, faith is the only true answer, repeated three times (v. 7,8,9). Faith allows the believer in God to have imputed righteousness as Christ’s perfect holiness is credited to our account (Romans 4:6,11,22); to be the children of Abraham and thereby be grafted in to God’s chosen and blessed people (Romans 11:17-24); and to be justified before God, Who no longer sees our sins (Galatians 3:6-9).

But if we foolishly attempt to be saved by keeping the law, we are under a curse, because breaking the smallest part of the law makes us guilty of breaking all of it, and we cannot be justified by the law in God’s eyes (v. 10-11). Paul again concludes this passage with “The just shall live by faith” (v. 11).

In his last mention of this verse (Hebrews 10: 38), Paul describes how it applies to the past, present, and future of the believer. Once we were saved (justified) by grace (unmerited, life-giving favor) through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) we were tested by our own hardships, those of fellow believers, and mocking from nonbelievers who seem to enjoy our suffering (Galatians 3: 32-34).

But Paul encourages us to find joy even in hardships (v. 34; Philippians 4:4), to be confident in God’s promises (v. 35), and to be patient as we wait for Him to fulfill them (v. 36). Our future is secure – a blessed, glorious and living hope (Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3) – Christ is coming back for His church at the Rapture!

Hebrews 10: 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry .

 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Praise God that He will return for those who are just in His eyes by living by faith, without which we cannot please Him (Hebrews 11:6). May we have faith in His exclusive power to have saved us, to keep us securely in the palm of His hand (John 10:28-29), and to glorify us when He comes again!

© 2015 Laurie Collett