The first time a storm came into my life, I could not understand why I was experiencing any type of turbulence. I was a “good girl”. I went to church, did not steal or kill and tried to treat everybody right. I thought it did not matter about the little things I did because they were only “little sins”. I’m sure I’m not the only one who believed that as long as you live a good and godly life and try to stay out of trouble, you are heaven bound. I now know that in God’s eyes, there are no little or big sins, sin is sin. I also used to think that if you sinned, you were no longer saved. Thank God in my studies and journey with Christ my eyes have been opened. I know we are saved by God’s grace, not our own will or works. Therefore, we must be careful that we don’t make personal judgments as to who is and is not a Christian based on their works. God knows who is truly a believer and who is not. With that being said, we will face consequences in heaven in eternity for what we do here on earth as believers. Scripture says we must humble ourselves before God and depend on His mercy. We cannot stand before God at the final judgment and claim we are entitled to salvation on the merit of church membership or anything we have done, said or believed. Again, our salvation is not in question, but the level of rewards we will receive in heaven depend on how we serve God while on earth. This is made most clear in 1 Corinthians 3:9-17. Our salvation is not dependent on what we do even after we have been saved because we are counted righteous by what Jesus did. Our sin has separated us from God, and the consequence of sin is death. Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, our sins have been forgiven by Christ’s death and resurrection in this sense, we have already been “perfected” (Hebrews 10:14) in that God has already punished our sin in Christ on the cross, and we are made perfect by Christ’s obedience, with His righteousness credited to the believer. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice! Thank God for Salvation, this is the deliverance, by the grace of God, from eternal punishment for sin which is granted to those who accept by faith God’s conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. Only God can remove sin and deliver us from sin’s penalty. God has rescued us through Christ. It was Jesus’s death on the cross and subsequent resurrection that achieved our salvation. Scripture is clear that salvation is the gracious, undeserved gift of God and is only available through faith in Jesus Christ. God is not an indian giver. We are saved by faith. First, we must hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus’s death and resurrection, then; we must believe and fully trust the Lord Jesus. This involves repentance and a changing of mind about sin and Christ. God makes it very clear that it is only through His Son, Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross that will give people eternal salvation and thus eternal life with Him in heaven. Please read today’s scriptures on salvation in FOOD FOR THE SOUL. Love and Blessing
EMMANUEL 