Christians, I have often struggled trying to figure out how people can call themselves Christians, yet they live so contrary compared to those who live a strong powerful Christian life. I myself throughout my college years called myself a Christian and yet did about everything the Bible said NOT to do. If someone would have questioned me, without a doubt, I would have said I was a Christian and going to heaven, despite my lifestyle.
In 1996, I was 13 years old, I prayed the sinner’s prayer and I received Jesus at that time. I stayed in the Church through high school, but in college I went and lived a life very contrary to the word of God. After I truly turned my life around and began living for God in January 2008, I found myself struggling to understand “when” I was truly saved. From my standpoint, I always wanted to view my salvation starting in January of 08’, after I moved back to my hometown, because no “Christian” would have lived like I did during college. But now I see that I was backslidden, not a new convert, I was a prodigal returning home in 2008.(Luke 15:11-32) God recently showed me a revelation that shed light on this topic.
Salvation is always described as a free gift that you receive when you confess Jesus as Lord, ask for forgiveness, and repent of your sin. If someone truly does this, with a genuine heart, then they receive this gift. Like a big white box with a purple ribbon, people all the time, all over the world, are receiving this gift. It is not easily taken away, you cannot set it down somewhere and lose it. God has given it, as a free gift. So are all these people who say they are Christians yet living contrary considered “liars” and going to hell? Not necessarily.
The further I go on this journey with God, the more I begin to understand the reality of salvation. Life’s a journey, salvation is a guarantee on how that journey ends, but opening up the gift of salvation is the key to victorious Christian living. You see, Salvation, the box, needs to be opened, it contains all the tools you need to live pure and righteous before God.
When I see people now I realize that maybe they accepted and received the gift but much like my former self, they have not opened the box and began unpacking it. It can take years to unpack and understand all the tools God has given you for eternal life, and it can take just as long to figure out how to effectively use them to overcome the flesh and live a life worthy of calling yourself a true Christian. So if you know you received the gift of salvation, have you opened it up, and are you ready to unpack it with God? I pray that God show you how amazing His gift truly is, in Jesus name, Amen.
Next Week: Salvation is a Gift Pt. 2 Unpack It!
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (NIV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 (NASB)
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12 (NIV)
written and posted by Daniel Poggensee | 2016
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