I often wonder what salvation means to those who say they have “received” Christ. Some look on the wonderful gift of redemption kind of like ordering something off a menu. “Let’s see. For my main course I will have salvation, and for dessert, I’ll have Heaven. Do any side dishes come with that? Wealth, and health will do fine.” My own experience was one of utter devastation to what I thought I was. All I wanted was to be rid of guilt and shame against my God who spared my life long enough for the Holy Spirit to convict me. The joy came later, but the agony of knowing what I was, destroyed any confidence in my own ability to cope with my sin until I surrendered to the will of God for my life. A man who at one time was arrogant and proud to be a sinner was merely a shell of his former self. Salvation wasn’t an option to me; it was life. So I chose life, or rather, life chose me. When you look at the Apostles, you see that the Holy Spirit in their lives changed them so radically that they were willing to be imprisoned, tortured and, of course, all were martyred. The reality of a resurrected Christ wasn’t a book, or an idea, or even a doctrine; it was life, and it was death as well. Many who walk the invitation isle will suffer the shame of a spiritual death apart from God. Nothing is more serious in this life, and those who prepare for months to take wedding vows, but consider the vow of a lifetime of the gift of Christ Jesus as Savior, and who take it so lightly as a choice of entree’s from a menu, will be miserably surprised to find their name is not in the Book of Life.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 15:53:41 +0000
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