Reshaped & Reworked & Saved for All Eternity
“For there are three that testify:”
(The 1st Letter of John 5:7 NASB)
It’s so interesting to watch children grow, to learn new skills, to become more independent with each passing day. Even though babies begin life fully dependent upon their parents, too soon, they learn to roll over, to sit up unassisted, to feed themselves (quite messily), and to walk. For those who have children, they remember the days when their baby’s babble became coherent words. Dada and Mama quickly becomes other one and two-syllable words, eventually leading to full-understanding of their wants. Parents clearly enjoy watching their babies grow, seeing them become tiny people who are able to play, to hold books and pretend-read, to do and to go wherever their little heart’s desire. The day arrives when those three words come tumbling out of the parents’ sweet babies’ mouths: ME DO IT!
Spoken with all authority, the little tykes no long wish for parents’ help in assisting with anything, for they (the children) feel as they have become self-sufficient. Adults are not so different. We like to be sufficient in our own power, knowledge, and ability. We rue the day, bemoaning how we must seek help, when we cannot figure it out on our own, and we enjoy relishing in the fact that we accomplished something—ALL ON OUR OWN!
Let us question: Where are we trying to do (IT) all on our own? Are we attempting to move the mountains that stand in our way? Do we internally say: ‘I’ve got this,’ when in fact, we know it’s quite possible that we could just fall flat on our face? Are we our own power, as we exclaim (even inside our heads): “I am. . .” “I did. . .” or “I got. . .”?
Shame on us, who are the saints of God, who are God’s children, for thinking we can boast about anything but BOAST in the LORD Alone.
“so that, just as it is written,
(The 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 1: 31 NASB)
“LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
We {who believe) love the Lord & We (the redeemed) have received God’s salvation. The grace of God is evident and we are secure. We know because the Bible tells us so. STILL, we have no right to boast, for we are a long way from our eternal home. On this side of the dirt, we are constantly being Reshaped & Reworked by our Father’s Hands.
God’s Holy Word helps us see with clarity the errors of our thinking, our sins, and how we constantly need the Master to reshape and rework us, for we have not been saved for just a season. That’s Right.
WE ARE SAVED FOR ALL ETERNITY!
“For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
(The 1st Letter of John 5: 7-12 NASB)
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.
The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself;
the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He who has the Son has the life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”
Three Persons Are One & Testify—LIVING, POWERFUL, OMNIPRESENT, ETERNAL, HOLY, EQUAL IN BEING, IN ESSENCE, IN GLORY. Father, Son, and Spirit: manifested in three persons.
All three unite & All three bare witness. God gives us eternal life through the eternal Son of God.
HOLY GOD WILL NOT SHARE HIS GLORY WITH ANOTHER!
Not even with us: His children, His saints, His redeemed ones, who boast of this or of that.
Thus, in closing, may we end this discussion by listening as Christian artist Katy Nichole sings the melody “Have Your Way [in me].” May we be malleable. May we be willing participants in the LORD’S reworking. & May we each be daily reminded (even this day) how the LORD reshapes, trimming away and creating a new—us. Assuredly, it is a beautiful thought to remember how this work in us happens only through the LORD: the ONE Who has Saved Us for All Eternity.