If… Is A Big Word
It’s only two letters of the alphabet.
How much difference can two letters make?
They are the two most neglected letters in contemporary Christianity. If we see them together in the Bible, we either don’t see them, or we slide by them, or we choose to ignore them.
But life and death can be found in these two letters.
“…IF you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart… you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
“IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
“IF my people who are called by my name… THEN I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
The Scripture that got me started on this subject is in my reading this morning. The Lord sends the prophet, Azariah, to King Asa, to say to him, “The Lord is with you WHILE you are with Him. IF you seek Him, He will be found by you, but IF you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2).
I can hear the argument already!
“That’s not New Testament! We are under grace now, not Law!”
Well, it’s the same principle we find in James 4:8. Even though the word, IF, is not explicit, it’s implied. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
The initiative is yours.
The current emphasis on grace and the love of God in the Christianity of the western world implies that there is NOTHING for you to do except believe and receive. They insist that…“It has all been done for you.”
Now, that is true when it comes to the gift of salvation. No works of yours or mine can save us. Salvation cannot be earned.
But the very passage in Ephesians that assures us we cannot be saved BY works of our own, instructs us that it is FOR works that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8-10).
And one of those works we have been saved FOR is seeking and drawing near to Him so that we can be transformed and made like Him.
Yes, it is only by the Holy Spirit that we are drawn and inspired to seek the Lord, but it is still up to us to respond to His grace and carve out space and time to allow Him to cultivate our appetite for Him through His Word, worship and prayer.
It is only in that place of pursued proximity to Him that we grow and are transformed into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). The transformation in us comes from the Spirit while we are “beholding the glory of the Lord.” The beholding is the process of drawing near. That can’t be done for us.
Only you can draw near.
Only you can seek.
Are you ready for it?
The very words of Jesus.
“IF you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
IF is a little word with HUGE impact.