Sunday Book Club Study: Believing Christ

One of my friends recently gave me two books about Jesus Christ that I want to read on Sundays.

I'm going to start with Stephen E. Robinson's Believing Christ.  Have you ever read it?

He introduces his book by saying that as he taught classes at BYU, he noticed that many people understood the peripheral doctrines of the church like tithing, food storage, the different commandments, etc.  But few understood the core doctrine of things like faith in Jesus Christ, sanctification, or the Atonement.  He began to teach lectures in order to fill the gap he saw and then turned it into a book which is pretty cool.  I assume that this book will help me to better understand the core doctrines of the gospel, and I look forward to uncovering some great eternal truths in my Sunday Book Club Studies.

Chapter One: The Great Dilemma

God cannot look on sin with the least degree of allowance.  Even if we committed just one sin, we would not be worthy to be in the presence of God.  His celestial standard is pure, innocent perfection.  This creates a great dilemma as Robinson calls it. We all sin!  We all fall short of the glory of God.  And this causes us to feel like Peter who when He was around Christ said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."  He could feel the gap between where he was and where God wanted him to be and this caused him to feel utterly unworthy.  We feel shame or sorrow because sin cuts us off from our Father in heaven.  We are like a little child who after being sent to his room for getting in trouble says to his father, "Daddy, isn't there any way we can ever be friends again?"  Well son, there is.

Chapter Two: Good News

We can be reconciled to our perfect Father, who constantly assures us that despite all of our imperfections, He loves us with a perfect love and will never abandon us.  He didn't create his celestial laws to keep us out or to make us fail.  He created them to enable us to become like Him.  He sees more than we can see.  But it isn't like He says, "Sorry, you are too much of a sinner to be with me."  He sees the potential inside of us.  And to overcome the great dilemma, he provided a Savior.

The Atonement means "taking two things that have become separated, estranged, or incompatible, like a perfect God and an imperfect me or you, and bringing them together again, thus making the two be "at one."  God loves broken things.  God mends our brokenness, the gap between Him and us, through His Son Jesus Christ.  Christ shows us that no matter what we have done, He can make our scarlet sins as white as snow.  He doesn't want us to focus so much on the sin itself.  He wants us to focus on the fact that He can cleanse and heal us.  That is where we must put our focus and energy.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the scarlet sins that we don't effectively use the Atonement to enable us to become as white as snow.

BELIEVING CHRIST

Robinson points out something I haven't thought of before.  When we don't allow ourselves to be forgiven or accept the reality that we can receive exaltation, we are believing in Christ but we are not believing Christ.  I've fallen into this many times.  I believe that Christ has the power to heal me.  I believe that through Him, I can get to eternal life.  Yet sometimes I prevent myself from receiving His blessings because I focus so much on the scarlet sin that I feel I don't deserve to be made as pure as snow.  Now, who is the one with the unrealistic expectations?!  God expects perfection, but He doesn't expect us to get there on our own.  He knows we will sin.  Probably a million times.  Probably some sins will be made many, many times.  So why aren't we able to trust the two most perfect, glorious, and good beings who tell us, "Use the Atonement!  You can.  No matter who you are or what you have done!"  Christ tells us that He can purify us.  We must not only believe that He can meaning He has the power to cleanse us from sin.  We must believe that He can meaning cleanse US from sin.  Even imperfect, sinner US.  Come on, who else would He be talking about?!  If not sinner us, there would be no one to cleanse.  That is precisely why He came to earth, to dwell among sinners and heal the spiritually sick.  Just in case you didn't catch it, that means US.

We have not accepted the good news of the gospel--that we can get reconciled to God--until we have accepted that Christ can bring each one of us into His kingdom.  If we don't accept that, we are accepting the messenger while rejecting His message.

Wow, I think I definitely need to do some internal work in order to more fully accept Christ's message in my own life.  Yes, I am weak.  I am a sinner.  But I don't have to be stuck there.  Christ tells me that He can cleanse me.  He can enable me.  He can get me back to God.  He knows the way.  He has felt my pain, sorrow, the effects of my choices and the choices of others on me.  He knows how to overcome it all.  Do I believe Him as well as believe in Him?  Do accept His message as well as Him as my messenger?

Well, I am going to work on this to get there.  Because I definitely struggle with this sometimes.  I've got to learn to believe that even though I am so weak, I can be made strong in Christ.  It is okay to fully depend on Him.  The plan was made that way.  I'm supposed to do that for goodness sake!  Yet still I feel undeserving or stupid or whatever other labels I place on myself as I focus on my scarlet sins instead of using my energy to utilize Christ's great gift.

Its a process.

I sure do love you.  I hope that this helped you feel as empowered as it helped me feel.  You deserve to feel happy and loved and know that you are GREAT!  Keep doing what you are doing because I can tell you are in such a good place, ready to spread goodness through all the land.  I'm proud of you!

Rachel