This morning, there is not a certain, single scripture on my mind. Rather, several conversations at work have turned my mind in many directions. Most people, when they find out that you are a (especially if you are a preacher), want to know what the difference between and "regular" is. That question, as I grow older, continues to get more difficult. In 1832, there was not as great a chasm as there is today. The more years go by, the greater the difference becomes. However, trying to have charity, my most common response is that we believe in salvation by grace instead of works. That generally leads into election and predestination, which in turn leads into the sovereignty of God, and finally leads into belief, the gospel and its purpose (some do not make it this far without blowing up mad first).
The greatest difference between s and "regulars" is that s start with "God." Most everybody else starts with "I." As I heard a minister so ably put it yesterday, "I is the little letter in the middle of the word sin." So, we should ever be careful about talking about ourselves more highly than we ought. One man this morning said, "When I read the Bible, I find that God wants everybody. For them to be with Him, they must accept and be baptized." I told him that I had never read such, and he replied, "Well, I have never read such about predestination and election." At this point one must wonder if they really read the Bible or what bible is it that they read.
One must believe something about those concepts (election and predestination) for they are in the Bible (Romans 8:28-32, Romans 9:7-13, Ephesians 1:3-6). So, I wrote down a list of citations for him to read this evening. Of course, we went round for a few minutes on John 3:16, and thankfully, he seemed receptive to what I had to say. But, to truly understand the Bible, in my humble opinion, one must first understand their place in respect to the Almighty. Our place is so low (by nature) that there is no way that we could possibly aspire unto the portals of glory. When one realizes that truth, they can begin to grasp the thought that they were doomed, and their only hope was that God reached down when they were unable to reach up. May we ever reach up in His service now that He has given us the ability to serve Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
In Hope,
Bro Philip