"If we truly appreciated our
salvation, it would manifest itself in a desire to proclaim Him to
others."
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Good morning! "Out of the mouth of
babes" is a common phrase we hear around Reformers Unanimous. I am
always amazed at the depth of doctrine that is uttered by our curious
young believers as they grow and mature. They say some of the most
profound things! What's so amazing is that they seldom even realize that
their words are so thought provoking and challenging to many of us in
authority over them.
This happens most often when they give their
closing testimonies during our RU School of Discipleship Graduation
ceremonies. These particular students have spent from six to eight
months living in a greenhouse of sorts. Our homes are intended to be an
environment that protects them from the elements so that they can grow
real fast. These students disciple for nearly three hours per day and
they also work full eight hour workdays. Their schedule is tight and
their discipleship is deep. They come to our program a baby and they
leave a toddler, but those toddlers seem to understand things that even
the proverbial parents could not discern themselves.
One such
statement was uttered by a graduate on graduation night that I shall
never forget. It was this statement: "There are those who are saved.
And there are those who appreciate their salvation." I don't know if a
shortly worded phrase has ever hit me as hard as that one did that day.
It led me to a long pondering of my level of appreciation not only for
what God had done for me, but how I was expressing that appreciation as
proof of my gratitude!
In other words, we can say that we
appreciate God, Jesus, the Cross, Salvation or even our church, but if
we truly appreciated something our behavior would manifest it in some
way that should be marked. We should have a marked appreciation!
If
my behavior was such that I was willing to proclaim His name to any and
all I come in contact with, I believe I would be expressing the highest
form of appreciation possible. However, If I felt less compelled and
shared Him with only those to whom is was most convenient or comfortable
with which to do so, I feel as if my appreciation would appear to Him
to be rather shallow.
How about you? Do you agree with that?
Could your or our inactivity ever emulate or show proof of grand
appreciation? In other words, if we are called on to prove
"appreciation for our salvation", would there be concrete proof to show
it or would we need to get argumentative with Him on judgment day "I may
not have shown it but I promise You, I was thankful!" How sad of a day
that shall be.
Remember the story of the Gadarene demoniac? He
was a crazed lunatic full of a legion of demons. Jesus cast out the
demons and that man was saved, sitting in his right mind and eating with
Jesus. Some disturber people of that country began to storm the banks
in search of revenge. Jesus had destroyed a herd of their swine. Jesus
hastily departed with the former demoniac hot on his heels. That right
minded man began to compel Jesus to allow him depart with Him. He
wanted to BE with the man who saved His life.
Can I ask you a question? Do you want to be with
the One Who saved your life? No, seriously, does our behavior show that
we WANT to be with Jesus? Do we take every opportunity afforded to us
to spend quality time with Him?
The story unfolds with
Jesus denying the man's request to come aboard His boat. Rather, He
encouraged the man to postpone his desire to be with Jesus until he
could make an impact in the lives of others. It actually reads like
this in Mark 5:18:
"And when he was come
into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed [Jesus]
that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith
unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the
Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."
Jesus
instructed this recently bedeviled man to go share the miracle ministry
of Jesus with all of His friends. He instructed him to proclaim His
name. But not the Hell reserved for all deserving sinners. That's not
the good news. That's the bad news! He wants us to share the good news
of God's grace, God's forgiveness and the Hope and Abundant New Life!
So,
we see that Jesus' instructions were specific. Tell your friends the
"great things [I] have done for thee" and how I have "had compassion on
thee". Jesus wanted His good works on behalf of man and His
compassionate nature to be shared with this man's friends and family.
What was Jesus asking of this man? He was simply asking this man to
express his appreciation for Jesus to those who may be in need of good
things done for them; and those who may have been in need of His
compassion.
The result was
overwhelming the last verse in that chapter tells us "And he departed,
and began to publish in Decapolis (the ten city region around Gadara)
how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel."
Complete success!
Salvation should be
appreciated. What is appreciated WILL BE enunciated. With our
enunciation we will produce more salvations! All we need to do to show
our appreciation is "recognize that God has done great things for us!
And that He has had such great compassion on us." If we would recognize
that consistently, I believe we will not only be saved, but we will
appreciate that salvation.
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