This present and future salvation

Salvation is a promise, an inheritance of future fulfillment but also an experience we are to live now.  It is a personal and yet also a corporate action.

We read in 1Peter 1:3-5, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see."

  

I understand we live in a physical world where the spiritual can become an afterthought; heaven can become an idea, a 'someday' promise that has lost its importance and truth for today.  The worlds standards have slowly invaded our thoughts and actions substituting our longing for God's ways with current fads or acceptable practices of the here-and-now.  The opposite is we can become too heavenly minded we loose sight of why we were created to be here. How we live and interact with others, how we represent the Kingdom of God today will have a huge impact not only on us but those around us.

Do we really live as Peter suggests with "great expectation" looking for a "priceless inheritance" one that is neither silver or gold or can be delivered in a Uhaul? Do we afford our thoughts and hearts to be dictated by our hunger for comfort or do we allow the still small voice of God's spirit to melt and reshape our minds to his thoughts and his standards?

Peter tells us we must go through trials but there is wonderful joy ahead of us.  It is through these trials that our faith grows; we don't see him now but we trust him and the reward for our trust will be the salvation of our souls.

Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour when he will return for us but the Father.  He calls us, he expects us, to be ready at any moment which means we are to live not in fear or condemnation but with hope and expectation.  If we truly believe we are preparing today in this world for a future home that is amazing and beyond anything we could ever experience here shouldn't our lives and lifestyles reflect that?  Shouldn't we be willing to go the extra mile to bring this hope to others around us?  Shouldn't our actions be the sweet aroma of Christ rather than the repugnant scent of complacency and conformity to the world to those around us?  We all long for truth and identity in something (Someone) greater than ourselves.  Not just words spoken Sunday morning, but lived through our touch to others 24/7.   

It should never be enough to know that "we have our ticket to heaven."   The daily cry from our hearts should be "God open my ears and my eyes to see the hurting, the disillusioned, and the rejected from society and may I have the privilege of sharing your Good News, your aroma with them today."

For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT)

The Bread Conspiracy

There is nothing better than the aroma of homemade bread baking in the oven.  It fills the house such a welcoming scent and reminiscent of days gone by with a much slower pace.

As a stay-at-home mom I would make all our bread.  When our children started school and I went to work my wonderful husband missed his much loved bread so he bought me a bread machine and the marriage of work and homemade bread was born!

I was thinking of the casting of bread in the faceoff between Satan and Jesus on this earth. 

The first enticement Satan threw to Jesus in the wilderness was bread when he heckled Jesus to prove he was the Son of God by turning stones into bread. 

If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.  But Jesus told him, “No!  The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”[i]

Jesus didn’t fall prey to Satan’s conspiracy…he didn’t have to prove what Satan already knew, he WAS the Son of God.

The second bread conspiracy was at the Passover Celebration the night of Jesus betrayal.

“For Jesus knew who would betray him.  “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.”  And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.  When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.  Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”[ii]

As in any conspiracy there is the means by which it is achieved.  Judas was the means by which the religious elite could finally get rid of Jesus.  Being prompted by Satan prior to the supper he would  now take complete control over Judas to ensure the conspiracy was fulfilled.  The bread was the means by which Satan would enter Judas and finally get rid of Jesus…or so he thought.   

Is it possible Jesus was not only speaking to Judas that night but also to Satan when he said, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”?  Perhaps he was saying, “Go ahead give it one last shot, do what you are going to do.  But my answer remains the same.  I will do what I was sent to accomplish.  I will do what the Father has willed from the moment you turned on him and started your war us.  And I will do it one-on-one with you just as you deceived one-on-one with the first Adam.

Once again Jesus was declaring “I am the bread from heaven.  The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”[iii]   Your bread, Satan, is counterfeit…stale…store bought.

The outcome of this final bread temptation was not what Satan anticipated.  The true Bread of Life cancelled the record of charges against us by nailing them on the cross.  In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities (aka, Satan) and he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.[iv] 

Once again Satan’s conspiracy was foiled by the Victor and lover of our souls.

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Jesus Christ.  He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.[v]

When Satan tries to offer you and me counterfeit bread, it will always be stale, don’t eat it! 

---

[i] Matthew 4:3-4

[ii] John 13:11, 26-27

[iii] John 6:32-40

[iv] Colossians 2:14-15

[v] 1 Timothy 2:5-6