Romans 10:9-10 (KJV) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
I'm trying to figure out where the "but" or "except" is in this passage. So many people make salvation so much more difficult than it is. There are people in some of these churches that would probably tell Jesus He wasn't saved if He was walking the earth in the flesh today! (Sounds a lot like some religious people that were living in Jesus' day, huh?)
I challenge you to STOP adding stipulations onto salvation, and just tell people the truth. Once they have received the gift of salvation, the work begins in them by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Some of us are making sin out of things Jesus never would, and we are hurting people and turning them off from the church. Ask the Lord to show you how to deal with people. I promise He will, if you will yield to Him. Stop diving headlong into your own brand of righteousness and forcing it on everyone else!
I further challenge you to develop the heart of the Master. Who would Jesus condemn? How many religious rules and regulations did Jesus institute? What denomination did Jesus start? It's time out for us thinking we are holier than Jesus Himself. He was meek, humble, and ACCEPTING of ALL people. You don't need to agree with everyone, but you are commanded to LOVE. Love does not condemn. I Corinthians 13 gives you a perfect view of what love is. I John 4:8 tells us that God is love. If you don't have love, you might want to re-evaluate your relationship with God.
Finally, I leave you with the words of our Lord and Savior with regard to how difficult it is to follow Him: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:29-30 (KJV)
No comments:
Post a Comment