Shaking Off The Stunning Befuddlement

January 28, 2015

Shaking Off The Stunning Befuddlement

Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy!

    For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”

Isaiah 12:6

The debate has raged for over two thousand years: who gets saved? The responses are extreme. Some say everybody is already saved; some say everybody who simply repeats the right words; and still others say only the few who conform to certain doctrinal beliefs. The longer I live, the more I come down on the side of the few, but not with those who are aligned with what they deem as the correct doctrinal beliefs. Rather, I am with the few who “When (they) discovered a pearl of great value, (they) sold everything (they) owned and bought it!” (Matthew 13:46).

I believe when Jesus gave that parable, the merchant represented two different identities. The first was a representation of God, who gave everything, even His only begotten son, for the redemption of human kind. Secondly, the merchant represents those who, after shaking off the stunning befuddlement of sheer grace, sell off all that they are and all that they have for the Kingdom of God.

Clearly, I do not mean this in a literal way. While some saints may in fact have literally disposed of all their material possessions, those saints we know the best, the ones who wrote the New Testament, did not. However, they most assuredly surrendered their rights to their own life to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. These few are the ones who responded to Jesus’ proclamation, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give (you) a rich and satisfying life,” with the confidence to risk everything on this Gospel of Grace. (John 10:10)

It is my heart’s desire to be counted among their number.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ  is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.