Romans 10:9-10
If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Every religion has some path to salvation but this verse separates Christianity from all others. Salvation is not up to us, its not some checklist of things we must do to qualify. Its quite simple. It can happen in the privacy of your own closet. You don't need rituals, ceremonies, or any other display of religious activity, it is simple.
Whereas others might endure a lifelong quests to achieve an enlightened states or perfection, Christianity is about a simple prayer which states your core belief.
That belief is that Christ did all the work of salvation at the cross, that he was the ultimate sacrifice to pay for the debt of sin in all humanity across all times. Its believing that the God of this universe who is able to arrange a beautiful display of starts a night raised Jesus from his tomb to fulfill his ultimate plan.
So what is the alternative?
Don't believe this and you are left with "me, myself and I". Don't believe this and give yourself a promotion to Chief Salvation Officer of yourself. Are you ready for your new job? Do you want it? How much ambition do you have?
It reminds me of a video I've seen titled "A man fell in a hole."
The video describes how the man was told by different travelers different things about his state and what to do; meditate, pray five times a day, etc. None of their suggestions helped him out of the hole. Then a man came down to him and carried him out of the hole and saved him.
That's such a great illustration of our salvation.
If you've never looked at it this way, I hope today is the day of your salvation!
2 comments:
I really tried to just leave a comment; but there were too many connected thoughts. It turned into a post.
The brief version is we have to prove ourselves in small things to demonstrate our worth for larger things. Church does not give us salvation; it is beyond their scope. Church cultivates the behaviors we need to improve our chances at salvation.
Prayer alone addresses only half of God's commandments relating to our relationship with him. We are still on the hook for the other half. After all, we can pray one thing and do another.
If we deceive ourselves, we cannot possibly be honest with him in our prayers. It is far too easy to go astray or overlook our shortcomings on our own.
Jesus paying for our sins does not give us an automatic pass. That is exactly like the rituals, ceremonies, and displays of religions activity you mention. You can't just insert a "in Jesus name" coin and turn a knob to get your prize. There has to be more behind it.
With the adulteress, he told her to go and sin no more. Her past sins were forgiven; but she had to stop doing what caused her problems.
With the woman who washed his feet with tears and dried them with her hair, her faith saved her; but she had actions to accompany her repentance. In the same passage, he explains "her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." If you recall, she expressed her love by washing and annointing his feet; Simon simply met with Jesus.
If we are so certain that we can just utter magic words and be forgiven, then we have little love for God, because all sins are trivial.
Just as Jesus visited temples and honored them as holy places, we must honor churches and do what is required to express our love. If worship in God's house is trivial, how does that reflect our love for Him?
No need to reply. These are my thoughts on why I cannot justify freelance worship for myself. Things like rituals, the First Communion, and Confirmation are community celebrations like birthdays and weddings. They have little do with salvation. That is still a personal journey.
Shainemata's comment:
(In my opinion spot on.)
"If we deceive ourselves, we cannot possibly be honest with Him."
scripture:
"God knows what is in our hearts."
Wouldnt presuming on our salvation be one of the greatest of sins?!
Is your life Truth?
Or is it an attempt to earn worth and esteem from your fellow sinners?
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