Woo Hoo ... it's time again to celebrate Reformation Day! If you're like me you just get all tingly inside when Reformation Day rolls around again.
I'm being too sarcastic ... I really do understand and appreciate the significance of the day. As a card-carrying Reformed Presbyterian kind of guy I'm extremely grateful for what Luther as well as the many other reformers did for the church. The five solas of the Reformation continue to give substance and depth to ministry.
# 1 Sola scriptura ("Scripture alone")
# 2 Sola fide ("faith alone")
# 3 Sola gratia ("grace alone")
# 4 Solus Christus ("Christ alone")
# 5 Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
Let me go on record as saying that I'm very pro-Reformation and am solidly committed to the theology of the Reformers and believe it to be the very best expression of Biblical theology.
But as excited as I am about my reformed theology, Reformation Day is a time for me to repent ... to repent of my reformed theology. I'm not saying the theology is wrong; my heart is what is so wrong! I truly believe Reformed theology is right ... but it is typically my "rightness" that keeps me from intimacy with my Redeemer.
I'm not going to make a doctrinal shift, but I need to start allowing Reformed theology to do what it is designed to do - point me to Jesus and Him alone; convincing me of my utter sinfulness and helplessness apart from Christ; reminding me of God's unconditional love and acceptance of me in Christ; freeing me daily to believe that Christ died for me; knowing that His Spirit has drawn me to Christ; and that by His grace and in the power of His Spirit I will persevere in Christ for eternity.
I've also made the mistake in the past in just looking at the past and thinking the Reformation took care of everything. But the battle cry of today's church must be "semper reformanda" which means "always reforming." Again, this is not calling for a change in theology, but rather is a call to constantly evaluate ones self against the standard of Scripture, daily repent and run to the cross, and believe in the sufficiency of Christ to daily transform one's life. I haven't made it yet! I need the ongoing reforming work of the Holy Spirit in my life.
How about you?
repentantly reformed and in need of continual reformation,
Burt
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