Cure for the Sin Malady

By Rick Blumenberg / @RickBlumenberg

The "Good News" of the Gospel is that God sent his Son Jesus, the Christ, to be the remedy for the malady we call sin. Adam and Eve, our first parents, committed sin against God and each other and thus infected not only themselves, but their prodigy with the “disease” of sin—a deadly inherited disease for which there was no cure. The good news in this sad story is that God, knowing that with the freedom to choose, mankind would sin, had already prepared a remedy through Jesus Christ his Son. When Christ died on the cross and God raised him from the dead all mankind was provided with the antidote for past sin, plus an inoculation against future sin we might otherwise commit.

Both the antidote and the immunization are applied by way of a process called faith. In much the same way that medical treatments can be given by various methods including pills or hypodermic needles, the spiritual antidote for this disease is called active faith in Christ. Even as an immunization for a particular disease is created to cure the disease and is available for everyone, the sin cure (Christ’s death and resurrection) was made available by God for everyone. The bad news, however, is that much the same as with medicine available for health concerns, the cure is only effective for those who take the medicine.

We also know that all medical treatment is a two step process. It must be given by someone who has the ability to prescribe it and the infected person must be willing to take the treatment. God has prescribed faith as both the antidote and the immunization but it is our responsibility to accept by faith, the death and resurrection of his Son in our behalf. If we don’t accept the treatment as an act of faith and take the only medicine that can help, we never receive its value.

We already have the terminal illness we call sin and we all need the antidote to prevent spiritual death.  By accepting Christ as Savior and then Lord of our lives and allow him to fill us with his Holy Spirit we are also given a limited immunity against future sin. I say “limited immunity” because even as born-again Christians we still have to choose godliness and reject Satan’s temptations if we want to continue in this glorious state we call spiritual health.

The concept of immunization is also valid when we think of a child who grows up in a godly home and is taught from childhood of the loving-kindness of God. Having been taught to love God these children often find faith as natural as breathing and never go into deep sin before accepting Christ as Savior. This Christian home upbringing is the inoculation or immunization against open sin so the child accepts Christ as Savior as soon as they understand the concept and thus never experience the horror of deep sin.

The godly child still needs the antidote for sin because they have inherited the deadly disease and without a personal relationship with Christ through faith they will not know the grace and love of God personally and will eventually lose the inherited relationship of a godly upbringing. This faith child who responds affirmatively as soon as they realize the need, is saved from just as much as those persons who waste their lives in sinful pursuits and are later saved from them. The good thing is that the child of faith is saved from sin’s horrors before they commit the sin instead of afterwards.

So there you have it—my medical theory of the atonement.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

   

I am the Light of the World

By Rick Blumenberg  / @rickblumenberg

According to John, the Gospel writer (John 8:12), these words were spoken by Jesus when he was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He had been teaching in the temple but the Pharisees refused to listen and even heckled him, apparently trying to distract people from giving him their attention. Here was the Son of God, who had come into the world to bring desperately needed light, but they refused to listen and even tried to stop other people from hearing him.

When Jesus said “I am the light of the world,” he didn’t mean the religious world. He also didn’t mean only the world of the Jews. He meant the whole world—not even limited to planet earth. He could have been light to the Pharisees. He came to bring them light, but apparently they preferred their darkness.

He went on to say “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” Jesus Christ neither leads into darkness nor leaves us in darkness. The word “Walk” implies something that is continuing. Now we know that sometimes even Christ-followers find themselves in darkness—tragedy strikes, disappointment comes, people we depend on fail us—but if we continue to follow Jesus he always leads us out of the darkness into his brilliant light. And when we find the darkness closing in we need not be afraid. God never allows the dark periods in our lives to be wasted, but uses them all to teach us things we can’t learn in the light or perhaps to show us how much we can trust him when those dark periods invade.

Jesus also said, “Whoever follows me will have the light of life.” Sometimes when life brings those dark periods we learn we can trust God in the darkness, knowing there is no darkness to which Christ cannot bring the light of life. And the light he brings is powerful, mind-blowing, inexpressible light. But Jesus took this analogy a step farther when he introduced an entirely new concept.

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus said to his disciples “You are the light of the world”! What an amazing thing to say! Not only is Jesus the Light of the World, but you too, if you are a follower of Jesus, are light as well. We not only have the light, we are the light! Everywhere God’s people go we take the light of Christ!

His financial light overcomes poverty.

His emotional light overcomes despair.

His educational light overcomes ignorance.

His spiritual light overcomes sin and death and hell.

I could go on and on for a long time, but suffice it to say, God’s people take the light of Christ wherever we go. We not only walk in the light but we are the light of the world because Jesus Christ lives in us, lighting up our lives with his truth, wisdom, and guidance, so that His light also shines through us! His light becomes our light and we take it wherever we go, whether it be local or international or somewhere in between.

The darkest places in the world are the places where the light of Jesus Christ is not allowed to shine. But there is no wall, no barrier and no border that can block the prayers of God’s holy people. Jesus taught us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come and God’s Will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” We can change the world for good even in places we cannot go by using this all-powerful tool we call prayer to light up the world’s dark places.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s 
“My View from Tanner Creek.”

      

Our Greatest Privilege

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Prayer is our heavenly Father’s gift to connect us with Him and with His power source. It is sort of like our speed dial to God. We don’t have to look him up, find an excuse to talk to him or go through any sort of defense mechanisms. He is always available on our prayer speed dial and what it all boils down to is that prayer is our greatest privilege. Any good we want to do, prayer helps us do it better. Imagine the difference between an electric light and an oil lamp. Except for the beautiful ambiance of an oil lamp, there is no comparison. Just as we get more light from electricity than from an oil lamp, any good we want to do, prayer helps us do it better because it connects us with God as our power source.

The primary or first privilege of prayer is being able to commune with God. We were created for fellowship with God. Quiet talks, yes. Also praise, thankfulness, desperation, anger, etc. It’s all communion with God and that’s what he wants from us. Prayer is not only a duty, but a privilege and a blessing from God! On the other hand, sin is what separates us from God and destroys that communion. That’s why God hates sin so much—because it hurts the people he loves. But prayer is also God’s solution to that vexing problem. Prayer enables us to do away with sin by claiming Christ’s death and resurrection for our own salvation, enabling us to experience blissful communion with God.

We do need to recognize, however, that not all communion with God is blissful. Sometimes He needs something done that is really, really hard and He asks us to do it. The best example is Jesus coming to earth and his subsequent death on the cross. He didn’t want to face death any more than you or I would. But Jesus knows God’s way is always right and He was being asked to do something that just had to be done—something no one else could do. So he did it. Christ needs to be our example, knowing God will be just as dependable for us as he was with the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on earth as a human. If there is something difficult God wants us to do, he will empower us to do it.

This brings up the second privilege of prayer, to accomplish God’s Will. That’s what Jesus told us to do in what we call the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10) for God’s Kingdom to come and God’s Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This phrase should be in most of our prayers, because God accomplishes his will at least partially through the prayers of faithful persons. We not only try to do his will, we help to bring it about through our prayers.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Pray also for me,…” (Ephesians 6:19) and this shows us another important privilege of the ministry of prayer—to work together with God. Prayer is the best method of Divine-human cooperation—our primary way to connect with God and His power. God gives us wisdom, guidance, empowerment, protection and many other helps and we give him our love and a physical body through which he can work. That’s a really good trade-off.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.