The storyline features a young college freshman who has his faith challenged by a philosophy professor. At the same time, several other plots unfold. For me, it was an excellent portrayal of how God is at work at all times and in all places to bring about His ultimate purposes.
With our recent Sunday School lessons being on "The Doctrine of Salvation" my mind has been sorting through my own belief system. Having worshipped predominantly in Lutheran and Assembly of God churches, my views on what it takes to be saved have changed over time.
Growing up in the Lutheran faith, the emphasis was on your baptism as the starting point of when you became a child of God. Then, during my teen years, there was a group of "Jesus People" who visited our church who talked about baptism in itself not being enough, and you had to make a conscious choice to be saved. I remember going home from the meeting and praying for God to come into my life, but then feeling strange about it because I felt He was already there.
The next phase of my faith story came when I started dating my now husband who attended the Assembly of God church. As I became more involved with their belief system, it seemed everyone had an exact time and place they could point to as "when they got saved". It was typically as a young child at home, in Sunday School, at a Bible Camp or in answer to an "altar call" given by a pastor or evangelist.
Again I was challenged, as I could not point to any one point in time as the beginning of my salvation experience. I was blessed to have been raised in a true Christian environment, and had never known anything but believing in God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as the one and only true God. I grew up celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas and His death and resurrection at Easter. Never do I remember doubting the legitimacy of the stories I had learned from the Bible.
Why was it, then, I always felt uncomfortable when an opportunity was presented for me to "get saved"? Then again, if I did attempt to respond in some way, it didn't feel right either? Over time, and years of reading the Bible, I'm finding it is still necessary to "work out my salvation" as Paul talked about in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2, verse 12).
So what is it one must do to be saved? According to Scripture, the only place this question is asked and answered is in Acts 16:30-31. The jailer asks the question of Paul and Silas, with the answer being, "Believe on the Lord, Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household". Pretty simple.
Other passages include baptism as part of the process. Perhaps the most familiar of these is labeled "The Great Commission" in Mark 16:16. Jesus tells His followers to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."
Yet, when we read Luke's account of the crucifixion in chapter 23, we learn there was a thief on the cross who merely asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. There was no prayer prayed asking Jesus to come into his heart, nor were the words, "I believe in you, Jesus" spoken. There certainly was no opportunity for a baptism to take place. What he did do was admit his guilt for the wrong he had done, while at the same time looking at Jesus as the only one who could make a difference for him in his afterlife. His assurance of being saved came from the words of Jesus, Himself: "I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)
Yesterday, I had one of my "open the Bible and see what God has to say to me today" devotion times. Where I ended up was Ezekiel 18. Although I know for a fact I have read this chapter many times in the past, one verse in particular stuck out to me. Verse 4 states, "For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son--both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die." To me, this gives assurance I was a child of God even before my baptism.
The chapter then goes on to describe a series of three generations of men. The first is a righteous man who does what is just and right.. Because he follows the decrees of God and faithfully keeps His laws, the Lord indicates he will "surely live".
This man then has a son, who turns out to be violent and a doer of detestable things. The Lord indicates he will surely be put to death, and his blood will be on his own head. The third generation comes along and, seeing all the sins committed by his father, decides not to follow in his footsteps. Like his grandfather, he keeps God's laws and follows His decrees, and is assured he will surely live. The summary in verse 20 indicates the righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
The next section of the chapter, verses 21-24, explains there is also opportunity for a man to change his ways, either as a wicked man turning from his sins or conversely as a righteous man turning to sin. God grants life to those who turn from sin and death to those who choose the way of sin.
Within the final two verses we find how God will justly judge and yet fully forgive a repentant heart.:
"Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. REPENT AND LIVE!" - Ezekiel 18:30-32
Therein, I believe, lies the secret to the true salvation experience. It comes from recognizing the sinful behavior in your life, asking God to forgive you and then turning from it to the kind of righteous life He desires you to have. A steady diet of Bible reading, Christian fellowship and prayer will allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in your life choices, aligning them with His nature.
"Heavenly Father, tonight I pray for each one who reads the words of this blog. I pray they would come to a point of true repentance. I pray Your Holy Spirit would not only draw them to this point, but also guide them beyond into a new life, free from the sinful desires of the past. Enlighten them with Your Word, the Holy Bible which teaches us all things. Give them a new focus and desire to live for You alone, rejecting the sins of their past. Set them on fire for the sake of Your kingdom and use them to further spread Your precious Gospel story. For those who have known You, as I have, for a lifetime, help us to serve You with a renewed faith and a bolder testimony of what You've done for us. I pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. AMEN!"
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