Ok wait, before we get crazy here, it's one thing to trust God it's something else entirely to trust myself. Tomorrow I may decide to go completely off the rails, I've seen it happen often enough to know it could happen to me. The only thing that keeps me from being a complete monster is a constant reliance on the grace of God... and the desire to re-enthrone self is so very strong.
God will never and can never fail, I will never and can never succeed. And POW! I just put it all together, this is why Catholics are accused of believing in salvation by works: I'm sitting here attempting to express "the hope that is in me" and I just wondered why I'm doing it... what is my motive? Am I doing this because I love God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind or because I want to look clever? Is this for God or to keep my freepmail box full of compliments? And even if it is for God maybe it's because I want the consolations and not out of love, and that makes it for me and not for Him.
I don't know my own mind and motives. I know my "works" such as they are don't save me, I can't prove anything to God. I can't convince Him that I love Him by frantic activity but I do have a need to prove it to myself. No Catholic who is paying attention to what the Church teaches is going to present himself in Heaven with a resume: X number of people are here because of my witness and I made the following sacrifices and demonstrated heroic virtue so open the door and make me a sammich!
This is one of those areas where Mother Teresa is such a stunning example: her life wasn't about the consolations, there were no warm fuzzies from God. Love isn't a feeling, it's an act of the will. She had the awful grace of knowing her own heart in a way I hope I never will (mainly because of what I might learn, which means I have to hope for it after all). Do we love God because of what He gives us or because of Who He is? As long as He keeps drowning us in blessings will we ever actually know?
God I trust, me not so much. Therefore I don't live in fear worrying about my own motives because if there's a problem He'll do whatever is needed. We live in time and that's probably why Mark knows we cannot rest until the race is over. The old "if you died tonight..." question doesn't necessarily address "if you died in 30 years..." and the answer to that question we simply don't know. Even tonight is in the future, God knows what it holds but we do not.
> “God I trust, me not so much. Therefore I don’t live in fear worrying about my own motives because if there’s a problem He’ll do whatever is needed.”
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What you seem to have glossed over is that he has already done “what was needed,” at the cross, once and for all.
It is done. Every believer’s every sin is already taken off the ledger. We are forgiven. Have faith in what God can and will do, and there is no need to worry about what you will do.
We are in his hands, and nothing can snatch us away. He has promised that.
Sterling post, Legatus - I think that you have very adequately addressed the whole ‘saved now’ versus ‘saved 30 years from now’ thing.
Now, I must apologize to all for your posts to me that I have been unable to get to. I am now downsized and looking for work; I have been very busy, sometimes more sporadically so than at other times. I regret that I will not be able to respond to your posts with the attention that they deserve on a regular basis.
Keep up the good works, folks, they will be the salvation of this thread. :)