Never the less, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with the inscription: The Lord knows those who are His, and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.2nd Timothy 2:19
The truth regarding our salvation is that we will only be saved if we remain faithful till the end. The act of faith we showed when we first believed was the first step to deliverance but the strength and the degree of our faith will ultimately determine what our stance will be in the future. Let not the speeches of the charismatic’s deceive you, for all that they say and do are based on their doctrine of self-righteousness and justification. It is not always wise to accept the words of every preacher because all do not stand by the truth. The condition is that either they will lure you to them or you will be lured by their deceptive doctrines and philosophies.
The security of our salvation can only be guaranteed when our lives are truly in conformity with the teachings of the Word. The way to salvation is not as easy as the speeches of various liberal and charismatic preachers are. However, the sad truth is that many are led to believe in what they believe in. Salvation can only come to us by faith in action and it can only be secured by the continual confession of our sins and by continually renewing our lives with Christ. We don’t have to justify ourselves by claiming to be righteous because all that we are is by His grace and all that we will be is in His hands. If God is to credit us with righteousness He will do so, but if we credit ourselves with it, we may be humbled in the next life.
The Lord knows us by name and he certainly knows those who are His. It is for us to live by faith and truly walk in His ways. The ones who loves God will be known by God ( 1st Corinthians 8:3 ). The promise of this verse can be likened to a groom who acknowledges and embraces the bride of his life. Husbands and wives begins to love each other more and more by the continual renewal of their love for each other. The continual renewal of our wedding vows will inspire us to love each other more passionately. It is by what we do that makes us what we are. We begin to have a tendency to love God more when God’s love is in us. The relationship we share with anyone should be based on mutual love and trust. The truth revealed in the Word is that we are all engaged to be married to our savior in the Great Day of love but a danger which confronts the unfaithful lovers is that they will receive what their actions deserves. The point emphasized here is that the spiritual marriage which every lover of God desires is as important as our romance with God. The scripture affirmatively states that… If anyone obeys His Word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did ( 1st John 2:5-6 ).
The ways of salvation are only revealed to those who desires to love the Father through the love of Christ. In the first epistle of John the scripture states “ God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the judgment, because in this world we are like him (1st John 4:16b-17). It was love that inspired Christ to die for us and it will only be by love that we will be saved. The way of healing is a process and so are the ways of salvation. The moment we receive His gift of salvation, we have to hold on to it till the end. The ways of salvation had been made easy by the liberals who claimed that salvation can be gained without hardships and struggles. But the reality of the truth is that only few will find it. The Word of Life states “ He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the son does not have life ( 1st John 5:12 ). The simple truth of this is that if we have Christ in us we will cry as He cried, weep as He wept and pray as He prayed. The gift of salvation will always be in us when we confess our sins every day and renew our lives every new day.
If we are walking by the truth, we will know it by the Spirit that is within us. We don’t have to boast of what we are but we just have to continue living for Him in faithfulness by dying to self and by living in the truth. Instead of parading our own righteousness we just have to be grateful to God for what He is and for all that He did and is doing. In the end we will be exalted in the next life if we live in fear and trembling out of reverence for the Lord. This is what we believe in and the promises of it are as great as our God is. Let your lives be sealed by God and you will experience the new life which comes through Him. This is the message of the new life in Christ. The Church of Christ stands for this truth and lives by the truth. This is the legacy of our faith.
Ambrose J Chakre
