In spending my quiet time with God and His word this evening (or this morning), God showed me some of the ways that I have been caught up in the condemnation of "sinners" (which is silly since I myself am one) and those who do not adhere to the same rules/regulations as myself. I'm so grateful God directed my heart to look up the requirements for salvation, because this type of attitude/mindset left unchecked could easily fool me into think I am somehow "more" saved than others-- which, as you will read, could be NO further from the truth.
According to God's word, all that He requires (in order to be saved) is that we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus died on the cross in our place, and subsequently was raised from the dead. Although we must recognize that we are deserving of hell, due to our sinful nature; nowhere does the Bible state that we must stop sining in order to be saved-- that would be a works-based salvation. Instead, our newfound awareness of our sinful nature should propel us further to God, recognizing the importance, but never taking advantage of God's grace and mercy.
All that God requires is that we become guilty before Him and truly recognize our need for a Savior! (How simple is that ;) No longer are we to rejoice in our sinful ways; rather we are to be convicted daily of our innumerable inadequacies. If anyone, who claims to be saved, is able to live without the conviction/correction of the Holy Spirit they are probably not saved ("If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons." -Hebrews 12:8) There should be a change in our hearts that compels Christ to be magnified in our lives, and the value of sin to be diminished (as evidenced by Romans 10:10). If we are truly seeking and growing in Christ, this trend should only increase.
However, as we seek Him and He reveals His plans and desires for our lives, we are NOT called to judge others by the standards the Holy Spirit makes clear to US (i.e. only listening to Christian music, choosing not to date, going to Bible study etc.) For the Bible says, "The faith which you have, have to yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he approves" (Romans 14:22). Yet, at the same time we are NOT to take this verse to mean that we are not called to hold the saints (our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ) accountable to God's holy standard.
{Accountable- subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.} Simply because a person who professes the title of Christian goes to a club does not necessarily mean they are saved/unsaved; however, it is probably evidence that they have not yet been changed, transformed or converted by God's love. From the moment we are saved, our spirit-man is regenerated with God's Holy Spirit. Yet, the recycling period (or conversion process) to make us into what God calls us to be, takes time (for some longer than others) and an open and sincere heart before God. There gets to be a point at which God will transform the desires in our hearts, to make
us long for the same things
He longs for, but
only if we
desire for Him to do so. A person does not have to be converted to be saved; however, those who are saved and not yet converted will likely remain outside the will of God their entire life.
It's disheartening to me when I see Christians who are content with being "
just saved," especially since the Bible makes very clear that salvation is not the ends in itself, but rather the vehicle through which we continue to press towards Him. God tells us through His word that we are called to push forward (
not remain stagnant), endure hardships, resist temptation etc. all in efforts of advancing the Kingdom of heaven, and receiving God's heavenly rewards. Let me make
very clear that these rewards are in no way, shape or form related to our salvation. Salvation is a gift, that we can neither earn nor lose. Rather, these are rewards stored up in heaven for the saints who (by the grace of God) trust in His plan, endure and overcome (see Hebrews 11:6, Philippians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 9:24, Matthew 6:19).
This is in no way meant to trivialize the importance of righteousness and holiness before God. For, I too am striving toward this mark, ever-aware that each day I continue to fall short is merely evidence of the need for a Savior in my life-- Christ. I think sometimes, many of the "seasoned saved folk" unwittingly become coaxed into thinking they don't really need a Savior. Now of course they would
never say this openly (afterall they're '
seasoned' Christians right?) but, in our hearts many of us have been guilty of embracing this ideology.
One of the signs that God pointed out to me, that demonstrated to Him that I was living as though I didn't need a Savior was my inability to call my sins by name. I guess I had gotten to the point where I knew in my mind that I always sin, but I figured since they weren't what I considered "big sins" that I didn't need to go through them one by one and confess them before God. Ha! How wrong could I have been! Often, after our moment(s) of conversion (or what I like to call my 'aha!' moment) we are so through with our old selves that we throw away all the "big" sins, like fornication, stealing, adultery etc., forgetting that holiness is a daily, hourly, minute(ly)? (you get the idea) task. Every day we must kill the flesh anew. We're cheating ourselves, when in our prayers we lump together every sin we committed that day into a 'catch-all.' For example, saying something like, "Lord please forgive me for sinning against you today" rather than forcing our mind to re-run the details of the day and present our inadequacies before our Father. Yes, I know it can be hard. But, we deserve every bit of guilt, shame and embarrassment for breaking God's heart. By not surrendering all sins, even what our feeble minds consider the "smallest" of sins (though to God they're equally filthy), we're only robbing ourselves of the growth that God wants to spur in our hearts and in our lives.
God showed me that like myself, many Christians don't take confession seriously enough. If we did, our growth, our fruit and our lives would be radically different. About the 10th day in the row that you have to come before God and call yourself a liar, a greedy person, a selfish hog, a manipulator-- whatever might be true for you--I guarantee we'll get tired of our own filth and recognize we need God's power to really get rid of this thing that's holding us back.
I hope you were able to somewhat follow my rambling thoughts... I know they were all over the place.
Much Love & Be Blessed,
B
The Jukebox