God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [70]
The pastor’s wife decided it might be more efficient to record her delivery of the gospel and distribute cassette tapes around the church. That way, the whole congregation would have an opportunity to get trained without attending meetings. So she recorded her personalized version of “the plan of salvation” and distributed the tapes to everyone around her. And her training tapes were having quite an impact, helping church members become confident in their own delivery of the gospel.
One day, while driving down the road in her van, she decided to pop the tape in the cassette deck and listen to the example she’d prepared. Much to her surprise, those same old words she’d said hundreds of times suddenly sounded very different, even new. By the time the recording ended, tears were streaming down her cheeks. She pulled to the roadside, and right there and then she received Jesus as her personal Savior.
Yes, she led herself to Christ! It was through her own voice sharing the gospel message that she came to know Jesus.
I tell you this true story to make an important point. Sometimes we think we know the gospel, when all we really know is religion. It’s very possible to have Christian religion without God. We may find ourselves saying all the right things and using all the right terminology about a spiritual matter. But in the end, it is only when we are open to the beauty of grace that we’ll really learn. And, strangely, as the pastor’s wife found out, God can even use our own words!
So what did the pastor’s wife have before she “led herself to salvation”? She certainly had a very Christian-looking, morally upright, and, many would have thought, even Spirit-filled life. She thought it was important that everyone know about Jesus; she’d thrown herself into the church’s evangelistic campaign; she supported her husband, helped in the church, led Bible studies, and in general looked just like any other pastor’s wife, maybe even a bit better than most. But she accomplished all of that without having the life of Christ in her.
She had religion, but no life.
His Best Life Now!
The true meaning of eternal life offers incredible insight into what it really means to be saved. For years I thought “eternal” and “everlasting” were synonyms meaning the same thing. But “everlasting” is only half of the meaning of “eternal.” Sure, eternal life lasts forever. But eternal life also has no beginning. Eternal life, by definition, means life with no beginning and no end.
So if we have eternal life, whose life do we possess?
Our own lives had a beginning. I was born on October 31, 1972. That’s when my life began. But now I’m a possessor of eternal life—a life that has no beginning and no end. So what life, or whose life, do I possess? Having eternal life means possessing God’s divine life.
Eternal life is not your life made better. Eternal life is not your life made longer. Eternal life is an altogether different life—a life not your own now imparted to you. Eternal life is Christ’s life:
Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:4)
True Christianity isn’t just a ticket to heaven. Nor does it primarily involve studying a religious book. Nor is it centrally about reforming one’s attitudes and actions. Although heaven, the Bible, and behavior play an important role, they’re not the primary reason that Christ died and rose again. Jesus said plainly, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Real salvation is possessing Christ’s life within our physical shell. This means that here and now, we participate in God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The life