Learning Christ??

Will we let C.S. Lewis get blunt with us?

"Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: We are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party."

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God" (1 John 4:15).

Lately I have been thinking about the verse in Scripture that says to work out your salvation in fear and trembling ( See Phil. 2:12).

• I take this to mean that salvation isn't something you go around feeling sure of, the way you might if you had completed a to-do list.
• I take this to mean working out our salvation involves a very careful searching of the heart, asking time and again what we really mean by attending church, what we really mean by reading the Bible, what we really mean when we worship God.

Two "-ities" to grow in:

• First, it demands community. We need to read scripture together--with other Christians we know and with believers from other times, places, and denominations. As people seeking to follow Jesus, we need to rely on the insights of the larger community of faith.
• Second, it demands humility. Before I write off other people who disagree with me, I'd better realize how very challenging this whole task of biblical interpretation has been. And it wouldn't hurt me to remember that so many wars in the world have come because everyone has their own holy book that they believe they have the inside track on how to interpret.

Will I humble myself before the Word to see what I have in common with other Christ-followers and let Jesus be the focus, while trusting the Spirit to help me navigate through any differences or faulty interpretations, both mine and theirs?

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3).

Why don't you and I both grab a few minutes right now and go spend some time praising God or praying or reading the Bible (not some commentary or book about it)?