A Double Dare

I’ve got a double dare for you today.

Dare #1:  The next time you’re hanging out with a few Christian types, drop the biblical truth that they actually are a select bunch of people, a collection of royal, God-birthed ministers, a spotless and holy group belonging to Him (see 1 Peter 2:9-12), and see if they don’t disagree with you—perhaps even argue with you.  I bet they will, and I wonder why that might be.  We’re certainly not stupid.  It’s because we’ve been deceived.

Dare #2:  At church next Sunday (or wherever and whenever it is that you gather with people), set up a table and hang out a sign:  “Perfect Christian Survey.”  Pull up a chair, whip out a notepad, and ask a hundred people (or as many as you can in your group) if they believe that, according to God who loves them madly, they have been made perfect.  Ask them that.  Give me your best estimate of the actual percentage responding, “Why, yes, I do!”  What do you think it would be?

During 30 years of ministry, I have posed that question in various ways to perhaps thousands of Christians, many who did not know that I was a pastor-type (and thus a member of the get-the-right-answer-or-be-shamed Gestapo).  What do you suppose my findings were?  Fewer than 5 percent responded, “Yes. I believe that God has made me perfect.”

Do you think Satan has been successful in his game of deception?  I do too. But the Spirit (who is not willing that we should live without the knowledge of how well-off we have become with God through Jesus) is turning on the lights and drawing back the curtain, and happily revealing to us the majesty of God’s grace to us in Christ—of how good it is!  Finding out all about it is in no way a trivial pursuit—it’s what He wants for you.  You’ve got to believe God about Himself, and you’ve got to believe God about you.  It’s fantastic, and, as far as I’m concerned, those are the two most important things there are. 

“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:14

That word, “perfect,” is the same word that Jesus spoke while on the cross:  “It is finished.”  The first covenant had been perfectly completed and finished, and He was bringing in the new one.  Christians have already been finished to begin with—isn’t it marvelous?  That’s our starting point, and we grow into who we are from there. 

That’s the truth.  Get as much of it as you can—get books, speakers, and resources because there’s not a lot out there telling you about this, I know.  Have a look through my ministry web site (http://lifecourse.org) and take all you can, including my book, “God’s Astounding Opinion of You.”  I want to help.

See you later.

(This is a fairly close transcript of yesterday’s video, “A Double Dare,” which was sort of excerpted from my book:  God’s Astounding Opinion of You – Understanding Your Identity Will Change Your Life; Chapter 2, “The Pursuit of Trivial Nobility.” To see more of these videos, click: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU0vzTvP_wD3Q59QDl9hx7w.)