My goodness does time fly. This week we discussed resistible vs. irresistible grace. This is to say that while both sides believe that God asks all people to come to Him, one side believes that He can be resisted based on our will while the other believes that if we are to be saved, we will also feel an internal call which we will neither be able to nor desire to resist.
Confused yet? Good! Confusing = questions = thought. Thought is good. After reading as much as we had time to on this matter, I came to the personal conclusion that grace is irresistible. This is based not just on scripture (as if that's not enough), but also on my own experiences.
The day that I visited Bethlehem and really felt the presence of Jesus with me where He was born, something shifted in me. It is not something I could have taken or left, not something I was offered and not something I had any control over. From that moment everything about my feelings and decisions has changed. I immediately went back on board our cruise ship and was able to read and understand parts of the bible that had for my whole life sounded like gibberish. I felt intensely and personally connected to Jesus. And I felt an even stronger presence of the Spirit with me every moment. I always felt I was never alone, but this is a much more intense feeling. At no time have I ever even considered whether this is something I could say, "Um, no thank you" to. It's a feeling, an energy, a gift. It happened to me, through no will, request or acceptance on my part.
I do believe that others experiences could be different than my own. I believe God shows Himself to us in the way in which we will recognize Him. For me, and my understanding, His grace given to me was irresistible. And much appreciated!
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