Musings: 6/11/08; Are you really like your Father? by JAH

The denomination to which I once belonged taught that a person could be saved and then lost again. I believed then, and I believe now that when a person is saved, he will never be lost again. Actually, there was not that much difference in doctrine. It was more a matter of semantics. Both groups believe a person who is really saved will live like Jesus. Both believe in the sealing power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13,14,30). Essentially, the group in which I now serve says that a person living like the devil even though they have professed faith in Christ probably is not saved, and never was. The group in which I once served says such people need to be saved again. Both groups admit the person needs to be saved.

I grew up on a small farm and was around work animals all the time. The first time I saw a brand new colt, I thought it was about the most wonderful thing I'd ever seen. It had long gangling legs and a short body. It didn't really look like the grown horses. It looked like a caricature of them. Horses walk, trot, gallop, and race! The colt frolicked, stumbled and bumbled trying to be like his mother and father. His actions certainly were not like theirs. The horses ate grass, hay and grain. The colt nibbled here and there, but really only consumed its mother's milk.

I Peter 2:2,3 says, "Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

We expect spiritual babies to be mature like Jesus, but they cannot be. We expect too much. We need to give them time while we also give them God's Word so that they may grow. The writer of Hebrews was concerned with older Christians who were spiritually malnourished. He said, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is no acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:12-14).

I believe that instead of labeling a person unchristian, we should first attempt to feed them solid spiritual food so that they can grow into the mature Christian they should be. I think none of us ever reaches that high mark, but all of us need to be more like Jesus.