Thursday, February 16, 2006

Good Morning

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:7-13; read pages 144-148 in Barclay; stop at "Letter to Laodicea"

 

-- finishing up with the church at Philadelphia.

 

-- Barclay talks about several things, but the one thing that struck me today was the discussion about this bit of scripture:

 

"Hold on to what you have, that no one may take your crown."

 

-- I glossed over that a bit when I first read it, but Barclay's commentary makes you think -- how can you lose your place with Christ?  And as Barclay says, this isn't someone coming in and stealing it from us -- it is God taking it from us and giving it to someone else.  The list that Barclay has of people in the Bible who had lost their place with God was very interesting  -- beginning with Esau losing his place to Jacob.

 

-- this is much like the conversation we had in class and online about the Book of Life -- are you in or are you out - can your name be erased from the book?  This seems like unto that discussion.  Is your salvation permanent - does it last without any further effort on your part? The New Testament is full of assurances about the constancy of God towards those who believe, but here in Revelation there seems to be some talk about the consequences for those who don't live their faith -- that they lose their salvation.

 

-- The questions then for us are:

 

-- What do we think of this idea of losing our salvation?  How does it square with what else we know? Are we -- and Barclay -- reading this correctly?

 

-- If think that is what is being said here, what are the requirements to keep from losing our place?

 

 

Today's Scripture

 

Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 

James 4:8

Today's prayer requests:   Dr. Page

Dr. Page is Ron and Brads' finance teacher at Auburn, who has lymphoma, and is not doing well.  We need to remember him as he struggles with the disease and the treatment.

Today's class member prayer:

Monica Harbarger

Have a great day.

Jay