meditations for an everyday relationship with Jesus

Can we be really honest with God?

Habakkuk 1:2-4 How long, Lord, must I call for help and You do not listen, or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?

Why do You force me to look at injustice?

Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?

Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

This sense of outrage is only half of the equation. Honest communication with God is more than frustration, petition and challenge. However, this diatribe by the prophet Habakkuk suggests that God can handle our outrage, and more, without blinking. Our God has an infinite capacity for our fears and our sins. Remember that it was He who gave up only His Son as a ransom for our lives.

I suggest that we balance our conversations with God by offering up praise, confession, and seeking forgiveness. That is a relationship.

Always saved?

Isaiah 51:6 Look up to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die in like manner. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never be shattered.

If salvation can be lost, then it is not good news for us. If salvation is conditional, then it cannot be eternal. The more critical question is whether or not we can lose something we have not merited or earned?

Neither you nor I can lose something we never had, which is why an altar call can feel so empty after all of the excitement has passed, the church is empty, and nothing seems to have changed. However, if we are truly transformed, our salvation can never be lost. We could no more give back our “new creature” status than we could un-know God.