I don't talk too much about being a "calvinist", only because of the controversy it often stirs up and the misconceptions about it. I also used to think it didn't matter much either way. It matters. Here's why....
Status Update
By Desiring God:
Imagine
the Last Day when you stand before Jesus. Imagine he asks you, “Why did
you believe on me, when you heard the gospel, but your friends didn’t,
when they heard?”
You know that is the case. We all have friends, family, people we know, who have heard the gospel but do not believe. And some, sadly, will refuse Jesus all their lives. And there you are, on that Day, and Jesus is asking you why, why you were one of the ones who believed.
“Why did you trust me but these others didn’t?”
You hear his words. You bow your head. And you do not say it’s because you’re smarter. You don’t begin to explain your faith as the result of your wisdom. “Well, Lord, you see, I was just more spiritual than they were.” “I read more book than they did.” “I always had a way of making good decisions.”
No. You won’t say that.
In that moment — picture it — in that moment you and I and every blood-bought saint will put our hands over our mouths, pointing to him, not us. Grace will stand forth with more vividness than we could have ever dreamed. There will be new dimensions of colors then — depths and wonders that we can’t see through the dim mirror of now.
And then, in that glorious moment, we will say, “You, Jesus. It was all you. We believed in your name, only by your sovereign grace. Jesus, it was all you.” [source: http://dsr.gd/1eLZnAe]
You know that is the case. We all have friends, family, people we know, who have heard the gospel but do not believe. And some, sadly, will refuse Jesus all their lives. And there you are, on that Day, and Jesus is asking you why, why you were one of the ones who believed.
“Why did you trust me but these others didn’t?”
You hear his words. You bow your head. And you do not say it’s because you’re smarter. You don’t begin to explain your faith as the result of your wisdom. “Well, Lord, you see, I was just more spiritual than they were.” “I read more book than they did.” “I always had a way of making good decisions.”
No. You won’t say that.
In that moment — picture it — in that moment you and I and every blood-bought saint will put our hands over our mouths, pointing to him, not us. Grace will stand forth with more vividness than we could have ever dreamed. There will be new dimensions of colors then — depths and wonders that we can’t see through the dim mirror of now.
And then, in that glorious moment, we will say, “You, Jesus. It was all you. We believed in your name, only by your sovereign grace. Jesus, it was all you.” [source: http://dsr.gd/1eLZnAe]
It matters because of who gets the credit, and it has to be Him.
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