I’m Not Ready to be Saved

I must admit, although I was raised in the church, I did not have a full understanding of what it meant to be saved. Does it mean that I cannot do anything wrong again? If I do something wrong again, will I immediately be banished to hell? If I sin after accepting salvation, does that make me a horrible sinner? How many times do I need to get baptized in order to feel saved? Do I need to go in front of the church and repent every time I do wrong? I was so lost so I decided to read the Bible for myself, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to gain understanding. I expect some backlash about my stance, but that’s okay. Be it unto you as you believe.

I have heard on several occasions people saying, “I’m not ready to be saved”. They feel like they will be giving up their lives’. They believe that in order to be saved, they must be finished doing whatever behavior they believe will keep them from them from the love of God. Once this behavior is complete, then they can receive salvation and operate in whatever behavior they have deemed as saved behavior. I don’t believe this is the case.

Romans 10:9 tells us how to be saved. It says, “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.”(NIV).  Period. I’m oversimplifying a smidge, but bear with me.

           

Once you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, that is all you need to be saved. Here is where wisdom comes in. Anything that you believe in your heart begins to manifest into actions. Think of the time when you fell in love. That man or woman you fell in love with, and even said “I love you” to, now is a witness to your love. You no longer pursue other relationships, you provide them with safety and other needs, and you feel like you don’t want to live without them.

This is the same result as accepting Christ into your heart. Once you truly accept Jesus into your heart, you begin to bear fruit of His existence. You read more to find out who He is, you want to do your best to please God, and you no longer want to live without Him covering your life.

Just as in a relationship when you may encounter a new beautiful woman or man and are tempted to cheat, there are times when you may step away from Christ. You may entertain text messages from another person, go out on a date with them, or even sleep with them. If true love was there, you will begin to feel guilt because you really did not want to hurt them. You realize what you did wrong, you tell the other person that you can no longer pursue the relationship with them, and you return to your love, hoping they will forgive your transgressions.

Recall the story of the prodigal son. The youngest son of two decided to ask his father for his share of the estate. He left his family and travelled to a distant country. There, he partied hard and wasted all of his money on wild living. After finding himself longing for the feed for swine, he decided to return home to his father. Much to his surprise, and the surprise of his older brother, his father was there running to meet him with open arms. (Please read Luke 15:11-32 for the full story).

For many years I struggled with my walk with God. I knew that I loved Him, but I still did things that I knew was not pleasing to Him. I would only end up feeling guilty and I believed that He no longer loved me. Thankfully, I learned the difference in condemnation and conviction. Condemnation comes from the enemy. Its intention is to break you down and make you believe that you cannot ever be in the grace of God. Conviction is the Holy Spirit’s way of giving us a gentle nudge back in the right direction. However, when we reject the gentle nudge, the intensity of it increases until God gets our undivided attention.

Do not be afraid of receiving salvation. God sent us Christ because He knew that we could not live righteously on our own. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”(KJV). God loves you. Any behavior that is requested by God is for YOUR favor.

God loves you at your best AND in your mess. Don’t allow your current behaviors to keep you away from salvation. As I have said before, this is a journey. Our ultimate perfection comes after we cross over to heaven. We will always make mistakes, bad judgments, and even intentionally decide to do things that take us from the presence of God. God’s arms are always open waiting for you to come back. As God prunes away all of the unneeded behaviors and thoughts, you will see how much impact your life will have on others.

If you would like to receive salvation today, please read this prayer of salvation aloud:

Peace.

If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or prayer requests, please feel free to email me at: faithfrfr2014@gmail.com.