{"id":9320,"date":"2025-08-29T13:44:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T19:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/?p=9320"},"modified":"2025-09-03T18:27:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:27:33","slug":"what-are-you-trusting-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/?p=9320","title":{"rendered":"What Are You Trusting?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the past, I have responded to facebook posts about requirements for salvation &#8211; requirements to which I disagree. But, in this post, I want to step back \u2026 and make a<em>n overview<\/em> observation about <span style=\"\"><em>all these<\/em><\/span> requirements in general.&nbsp; I&#8217;d like to identify a common thread they share. I invite you to think critically, as we review fundamental concepts about <em>being made right<\/em> with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Thought Experiment: &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"553\" height=\"528\" src=\"https:\/\/richimages.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cartwheel-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/richimages.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cartwheel-1.png 553w, https:\/\/richimages.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cartwheel-1-450x430.png 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Suppose there were some sacred text somewhere, which mentioned \u2026 &#8220;<em>doing a cartwheel&#8221; <\/em>&#8211; a special cartwheel &#8211; so that your body forms a perfect \u201c<strong>X<\/strong>\u201d with your arms and feet. This happens at the point where your body is upside down.&nbsp; Perhaps being upside-down might symbolically represents the act of <em>dying to self<\/em>. Perhaps the \u201c<strong>X<\/strong>\u201d shape might be a sacred symbol that can impart a measure of grace to your moral bank account with this deity. Suppose performing these cartwheels once a day, for life, guarantees personal acceptance and the reward of perfect bliss in the afterlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s actually a pretty silly thought, isn\u2019t it?&nbsp; Unless \u2026 it\u2019s not.&nbsp; It\u2019s not silly if you happen to believe exactly this &#8211; and especially if someone interprets scripture in a way that support this teaching.&nbsp; If that\u2019s the case, then it\u2019s not silly at all &#8211; it\u2019s holy.&nbsp; Everyone else may make fun of your beliefs, but if <em>this<\/em> is your beliefs \u2026 then you embrace it fully; you refuse to divorce it.&nbsp;You hold your ground.&nbsp;Your full faith is in this belief. <br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Jesus invited people to be saved when He said: &nbsp; \u201c &#8230; <em>whoever would come after me, must take up his cross daily and follow me<\/em>.\u201d<\/p><cite>Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>Here\u2019s my belief that I\u2019m married to \u2026 that I will not divorce. Jesus is the Son of God, who is able to save men from their sin. Jesus offers salvation when He said: &nbsp; \u201c &#8230; <em>whoever would come after me, must take up his cross daily and follow me<\/em>.\u201d&nbsp; Did you catch that?&nbsp; Jesus is telling us plainly, that to be His true follower we are dealing with matters of the heart, mind, and will in the battleground of choices in how we live life. This means I need to evaluate carefully whether I want to be a follower of Jesus or not. An affirmative decision must be carried through with submission to His lordship in holy living. Jesus said: \u201c<em>I am the resurrection &#8211; whosoever believes in me, though he is dead, yet shall he live.<\/em>\u201d&nbsp; I believe that with all my heart.&nbsp; I believe in Him and His ability to save because of His substitutionary death on the cross in my place to pay for my sins before God the Father. I understand that because He did that, and then rose from the dead, He is able to make and keep promises about salvation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>So \u2026 that \u2026 and only that is what I am trusting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gospel deals with matters of the heart, mind and will and involves:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Faith<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Belief<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trust in promises and the power of the One who can make and keep those promises<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Willingness to lay aside personal freedom to choose how to live, and instead live in a way that pleases Him (repentance). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Being transformed by the renewing of your mind has nothing to do with \u201c<em>external things<\/em>\u201d of religious practices, like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How you wash your hands<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What day of the week you worship God<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What foods you eat, what foods you don\u2019t eat<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What holidays you observe, and holidays you don\u2019t observe<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What special water\/holy-smoke\/incense you apply to yourself<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What transformed bread you partake of that\u2019s considered to be holy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026 all of these are external things that have nothing to do with being inwardly transformed into the image of Christ. They bypass where the real battle takes place.&nbsp; All of them are (a) easy to perform, and (b) comfort practitioners with a feeling that they have satisfied God. But scripture indicates that God is more concerned with how you are living your life rather than these external practices. These things are very similar to performing some special cartwheel.&nbsp; It just doesn\u2019t make sense that the process of sanctification is the result of performing external acts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think about it \u2026 how would eating a piece bread &#8211; even if it were Jesus\u2019 flesh and blood &#8211; transform <em>your<\/em> heart, mind and will. &nbsp; How is that actually transforming you inwardly into the image of Christ? Is it physically replacing any of your desires? Are you living a more holy life because of that? Jesus said: \u201c<em>It\u2019s not what goes into the body that defiles a man \u2026<\/em>\u201d, likewise, it\u2019s not what goes into the body that sanctifies a man either. Jesus said it\u2019s what\u2019s in the mind and heart that\u2019s important spiritually. If I were going to start a false religion \u2026 I\u2019d replace the hard internal battle-ground issues that deal with dying to self and following Jesus, with the easy-to-perform external practices that can give a tangible false assurance in place of internal transformation.<br><br>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the past, I have responded to facebook posts about requirements for salvation &#8211; requirements to which I disagree. But, in this post, I want to step back \u2026 and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,8],"tags":[280,138,279],"class_list":["post-9320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theology","category-thoughts","tag-religious-beliefs","tag-salvation","tag-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9320"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9388,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9320\/revisions\/9388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richimages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}