A Christian Checklist

Here's a list that most Christians I know are able to check off as “done” or “experienced”:

1. Accepted free gift of salvation. Jesus did all the heavy lifting.

2. Experienced trials due to one's profession of faith.

3. Set free from the requirement (bondage, slavery) to do certain sins.

4. Experiencing God's divine hand of protection.

5. Experiencing God's miraculous provision.

6. Fellowshipping and worshiping with fellow believers on a regular basis.

7. Having a pastor through whom God is speaking.

8. Assurance of salvation based on number one and the supporting evidence of the next six items.

All of those things are not only great, they're Biblically required and/or promised.

Except, perhaps, for the last one.

The Israelites, arguably the best example of the Christian church, had the same list as a result of the Exodus:

1. Accepted free gift of salvation. Moses did all the heavy lifting.

2. Experienced trials due to their profession of faith (ordered to collect their own straw, Exodus 5).

3. Set free from slavery in Egypt.

4. Experiencing God's divine hand of protection in the Red Sea crossing.

5. Experiencing God's miraculous provision (manna in the dessert, water from a rock, etc.).

6. Fellowshipping and worshiping with fellow believers on a regular basis (congregation of 600,000 men and their families).

7. Having a pastor (Moses) through whom God spoke.

8. Assurance of being God's chose people based on number one and the supporting evidence of the next six items.

And what was the result for nearly all of the Israelites? As Paul would day, they failed to finish the race. They did not receive what they had hoped for, that for which what God had set them free. Their deliverance was in vain. They might as well have stayed bound in Egypt.

Are we any different? Are you a Joshua or a Caleb – truly unique among 600,000? How can you tell? How can you be sure? (Hint: are your feet moving? And in what direction?)