May
27
2013
Earn This…Believe This
Posted in Salvation 2 Comments
Back in 1998, I wrote a letter to my father-in-law who asked me to explain why I left the traditional church I was raised in to go to a Bible church with my children.
It was 1992, when my son…my fourth child…was born.
After listening to a Bible study on TV early each morning as I fed my son, I was hearing things and learning things I had never known before.
I bought my first Bible and read through it in about eight months.
God the Father opened my eyes to the Gospel…and salvation through His son, Jesus.
The decision to leave my church, and bring my children with me, so they could be surrounded by the word of God, was a difficult one.
I was leaving all I had ever known…but gaining so much, as I followed God’s leading.
My husband stayed in the church we were raised in, while the children and I went elsewhere to worship.
My husband would join us many years later.
It was difficult for my husband’s parents to understand why I did what I did.
My father-in-law would frequently meet with me to try to get me back to the church.
Nothing I explained, as I answered his questions, helped him to understand.
I prayed and prayed for a way to explain what had happened to me.
Finally, God showed me a way to answer his questions.
Since he served in World War II, I hoped that this analogy would help him to understand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 1998
Dear Dad,
When we had our afternoon together a few weeks ago, you shared your thoughts with me.
You explained that you were a logical man.
You said that if something is not logical, it is not true.
Following this, you said Faith alone is not logical…therefore not true.
I asked you that since you have known and loved me since I was 15, is it logical that I would leave a church I was raised in, stop going to church with my husband, and generally uproot a whole family?
You said no, and that was what you couldn’t understand.
We left our hearts at that place when I said that I would TRY to write my reasons for what appears to be very illogical to you.
I have prayed and contemplated how to express myself to you.
I dismissed many ideas since they fell short of conveying what has occurred in my life.
Until last night…
Michael and I went to see “Saving Private Ryan”.
Never before have I been so moved by a film.
It was probably due to the fact that it is actual history.
I felt that I was actually there in that war.
I cried, sometimes wept, for the full three hours.
I was touched to my very core by the sheer chaos of war.
The premise of the movie was that a mother lost three of her four sons in battle.
She vowed that she would not lose her last son.
The orders were given to find Private James Francis Ryan somewhere near Omaha Beach.
Tom Hanks, as Captain John Miller, gathers eight men together and they search for this “needle among needles.”
Lives are lost along the way and the general consensus is, “I hope this Ryan is worth it.”
Circumstances bring them together as they find Private Ryan.
Ryan does not want to leave what is left of his company since they are defending one of two remaining bridges.
I thought often about the statement, “I hope this Ryan is worth it” and the resounding “yes” flooded my ears since God created my inmost being…I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13,14)
For that reason alone we, like Private Ryan, are worth it.
The battle for the bridge ensued and Captain Miller was killed.
His last words to Private Ryan were “earn this.”
The scene takes us to Normandy where we see an old Private Ryan, with his family behind him, kneeling before Captain Miller’s grave.
Private Ryan asks, “Did I earn the right for you to die for me?”
Turning to his wife he asked, “Was I a good man? Was I a good husband and father?”
She said “yes” but he still seemed so unresolved on the issue.
The last words of Captain Miller gnawed at me!
Soldiers go to battle knowing full well that they may die for their country.
Captain Miller’s statement that Private Ryan “earn” the right to live by his death demanded action as payment.
I thought of another man who fought a different battle, willingly.
He knew full well that He would die for His people.
Jesus Christ made no demand on us to “earn” the right to live by His death.
Jesus Christ told us simply to believe.
Earn this.
Believe this.
The dichotomy that seems so illogical.
Earn this creates many “unresolvables” (as in Private Ryan’s own need of affirmation that never fully satisfied.)
Believe this is childlike faith and trust.
End of story. End of movie.
Had I written this…Private Ryan would have been so grateful for Captain Miller’s sacrificial love that he would have lived his life overflowing with thankfulness.
Why should such grace and mercy be bestowed on him?
He was just a Private.
Was he worth it?
But the end was written in another story.
The disciples asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent. (John 6:28-29)
Earn this with all its “unresolvables”.
Believe this with all its surety and promises.
Worldly kingdoms with their false bravados pale in comparison to God’s Kingdom.
Philip Yancey in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew says:
The balance of power shifted more than slightly that day on Calvary because of WHO it was that absorbed the evil…God Himself has chosen the way of weakness. The cross redefines God as One who was willing to relinquish power for the sake of love. Power, no matter how well intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other.
I am so thankful that He did.
I was struck by the fact that life is not the passing of months and years but rather the passing of moments.
To me, moments must be lived to honor Jesus Christ.
When we miss moments, we miss everything.
Our life can be changed in a moment just as it was for the soldiers on Omaha Beach.
What about the death of one man?
Caiaphas, the high priest at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion said, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
(John 11:49)
It is better for me that one man died in my place and asks not that I earn that right, but I just believe that it happened and that He rose again, three days later, and now sits at the right hand of His Father waiting to bring me Home.
No “unresolvables”.
Just a promise He died for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, though I thought this letter would explain things, it never did.
I was deeply loved by my father-in-law.
He never understood what I tried to tell him.
Perhaps, the words written to him are for someone else…to believe.
Beautiful, thank you for sharing!
You are welcome, Janine. I am delighted that you were blessed.
Gina