SALVATION - WHAT IS THAT? Have you ever thought about what salvation is? What does it mean to be saved? How do I get saved? Salvation is something that I can not do by myself. In no way can I do anything in my own power. Only by the Grace of God can I be saved! Assured about my salvation, I told the world that I was a Christian. Raised in a Christian home with the belief in Jesus from the beginning of my life. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I always stood up for The Name. If someone in the church asked me if I was saved, I was embarrassingly surprised; I had been a saved Christian my whole life. Never had I been in the world, danced at the disco, ever tried cigarettes or tasted a beer. I had always been a pattern Christian and me had never been a sinner… except for one small little thing that I for some reason couldn’t stop doing. I would be stuck there for many years while it just grew larger and larger. One day I had to realize it: I was hell-bound and a slave to sin, whether I liked it or not. ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED? When I grew up in the church, in a Christian family, I learned the way to talk and behave; I was zealous for God and my faith. With time I started to assume things, I took it for granted. Of course, I was saved, I behaved like a Christian, I talked like a Christian, and there was a distinct difference between the non-saved kids in school and me. I even had to suffer some persecution and bullying for my faith, so I was for sure saved. I confessed Jesus with my mouth; therefore my salvation was secured. I confessed with my mouth that I was saved, and believed in my heart that Jesus has risen from the dead. Every few years, when the family visited some Christian conference, a silent voice within me said: you are not saved! That scared me, so I shut it down and induced my self salvation-assurance: I am saved! And so I continued, if I am saved, then I am saved! EASY BELIEVISM - IS IT TRUE? I confessed with my mouth, I believed in my heart, and I stood up for Jesus under pressure. But why couldn’t I defeat sin when I became a teenager, why did the sin defeat me. If I am a new being; am I not free then? How come I was a slave to sin? For some reason I couldn’t understand why the sin lived its own life in my body, and why couldn’t I follow my own will when I desired not to sin. But of course, I was saved, I had always thought that, and I had never heard anyone preach anything else, it couldn’t be otherwise. I had learned this thought pattern in the church, and it had never been challenged before, I was saved; I was sure. But I continued to struggle with that little secret sin, until one day I did realize the truth. I was not through The Narrow Gate! Someone asked him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? He said to them, Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. - Luke 13:23-24
