Kay Cude poetry. Used with permission.
Artist’s Statement: By Kay Cude
There are staunchly defended and heatedly argued “opinions” concerning man’s “free-will” faith (the heart’s object is “self”) and his personal work of “inviting, allowing, and/or accepting” Christ VS. faith (the heart’s object is Jesus) that is supplied by God in and through His sovereign act of
(1) drawing one to Christ and
(2) saving them.
There are very heated intra- and inter-denominational disagreements about “Lordship Salvation” (one repents and surrenders to Christ’s Lordship at the moment of saving faith–the heart’s object is Jesus) VS. a believer “finally making Jesus the Lord of their life” (sometime much later, usually long after they’ve decided to “invite, allow, and/or accept” Christ as Saviour–the heart’s object remains “self”).
And yet it truly is a penitent heart where God works His saving work! It is our broken heart for sin that makes us hear His Words clearly–and we respond! I agree with Thomas Watson, “True faith is always in a heart bruised for sin.”
We obtain saving faith by hearing the Gospel exhorted from God’s undiluted, unedited, unaltered, and inerrant Word preached by His true and faithful servants. Truly, a penitent and believing heart is pricked to respond to God’s drawing them to Christ, for God Himself provides that one the faith necessary to believe, repent, and follow Jesus as Saviour, Lord, and Master. It is terribly sad that more often than not, a hard and impenitent heart will remain unaffected.
It may become a “pretender,” but as stated by Thomas Watson, “it is not [of] the true faith.”
I first came upon Thomas Watson’s penetrating quotation while listening to John MacArthur’s sermon, “Spiritually Living, Yet Still Stinking.”
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Kay Cude is a Texas poet.
