Yesterday, I became excited about a thought that I had, and in so doing, took some scripture out of context to support my mindset. I did not do it purposefully, but as it turns out, my posting was not entirely correct. The part I was excited about was not correct, anyway. You see, my father is not a believer. He was as a child a "believer" inasmuch as he went to church and I assume, went through the motions. I was excited by the fact that we as true believers cannot have our salvation taken away from us. However, the operative words here are "true believers."
I initially interpreted this to mean that if my father was a sincere believer as a child, then his salvation was still his. Unfortunately, this cannot be the case. There is but one unpardonable sin. That is rejection of God. Not because He can't pardon it, but because those that reject Him, won't let Him, simply because of their rejection.
It just so happened that I got a devotional today that helped me to understand a bit better. (God is wondrous in His mysterious ways.) From In Touch Ministries, written by Dr. Charles Stanley, entitled The Assurance of Our Salvation based on scripture verse 1 John 5:10-13
"The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and the life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; He who does not have the Son does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."
What does it all mean??
What it means is this. A true believer will not turn away from God. Because they truly believe and have faith in who He is and who His Son is. Which means that regardless of what my father did as a child, he was never a true believer. Therefore, He cannot claim salvation. However, those that may have turned away in the past, because they did not have true understanding, and therefore true faith; and then come back, so long as they now truly believe and have unwavering faith, can claim salvation. That would be me. (See comment to original post for clarification of this statement if necessary.)
Tara was right in that we cannot claim our salvation based on something we said years ago or in our childhood, as much as it saddens me to say so. It has to be a true commitment to Christ. That's not to say that a child can't make a true commitment to Christ. They can and often do. And they are saved, and can claim their salvation. It's only when they turn away, for a short time later in life, that their words as a child no longer have any value. Because they were just that- "words."
As far as Salvation being Forever? Well, I was correct in that a true believer's salvation cannot be taken away simply because they commit a sin. We all sin on a daily basis, sometimes more that once a day. However, because we repent of our sins, with a genuine and contrite heart, our salvation is still guaranteed. We have gone beyond the basic understanding of being a Christ follower.
For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. Hebrews 4:2
--Lord, today I pray that my words are clearer and true to Your Holy Word. I thank You for the opportunity to study Your Word more, so that I might have a better understanding, and can minister only the Truth to those that read my words. May the Holy Spirit continue to work in me, and may the readers of these words be blessed. I pray this in Jesus' Holy Name. Amen.
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As a sister in Christ, I am very proud of you. I commend your commitment to truth to be able to say you was over zealous is a brave and bold thing to do, in light of all the comments that were made yesterday, I hold you as an example of a believer in their walk in faith. Sometimes we stumble, but you my dear stumbled with grace, humility most importantly confidently in your faith. May He continue to uphold you My PPF!
ReplyDeleteHannah, dear: Thank you so much. But I couldn't have learned what I needed to learn without your help and guidance last night and this morning. You are a gem! More precious than rubies you are!! Your PPF.
ReplyDeleteShalene, consider it a learning experience for all of us. :) As for the salvation of our loved ones, remember, only God knows what exists in the hearts of man. The rest of us will just have to pray and place our faith on His power of persuasion. May He use you in mighty and powerful ways for His glory.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I am very proud of you too!
ReplyDeleteWe are all clay in God's hands and we all learn together and help teach one another.
God is looking down on you with so much pride and love because your love for him is real and you are true and sincere as his servant,
Love, Lily
Thank you Beverly, and Lily. I truly do appreciate your comments and your uplifting words. Last night was a bit of a blow, but after studying and reading and praying, I've learned alot and like you said, Beverly, only God knows the heart of man. And I'll keep working on my dad, until I know his. I just have to pray that's God's will. :)
ReplyDeleteIn Him
Shalene, hats off to you, sister. How often I wish I could form God to how I'd like Him to be, to do things right in my eyes. Salvation of loved ones fits in right here! But in believing that God is just, merciful and always right, I need to trust that He IS just, merciful and ALWAYS right! It's a great knowledge to rest in. He is God - He sees the heart. I am doing the best thing to trust Him with the hearts of those I love.
ReplyDeleteYour honesty and blogs are a true encouragement - weirdly, the way you have dealt with this issue has been the biggest encouragement so far for me in this blog. :)
I know you don't knwo me very well, but I just want you to know that your posts have been helping me a lot in my faith. We all go through this together, especially on tough topics such as this. I just wanted to thank you for this post. It's cleared a lot up for me.
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome, NYC. That's what I'm here for. I'm glad. I pray you will continue to be blessed by my posts.
ReplyDeleteIn Him
PS May I publish your comment in my newsletter?
Shirley, I think I have been most blessed by this post as well. I have learned humility and trust in my Lord, and He was merciful in his instruction. Thanks so much for your words of encouragement.
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ReplyDeleteI have some comments on Shalene's post and the comments on her previous post. Sorry I don't cite many of the references that I infer -- that would take another whole evening.
ReplyDeleteShalene correctly states that those who truly believe remain Christ's forever. When God gives spiritual birth to us, He changes our very nature. Our dead spirits become alive! We have everlasting life -- present perfect tense, meaning now, it is complete. (That which could end could not be everlasting, could it?) The Holy Spirit becomes the "earnest" or collateral (like in a pawn shop) that guarantees our safe delivery to Heaven. The Holy Spirit seals us with the imperial seal of the King of Kings that can only the Lamb of God can open. We become members of the bride of Christ, and of Christ Himself. To separate us from God, you'd have to cut off a part of God! I could go on, but you get the idea.
Shalene made a small slip. She said, "because we repent of our sins, with a genuine and contrite heart, our salvation is still guaranteed." When we return to the Lord, we demonstrate outwardly that we were His all along. Don't confuse outward evidence with inward cause. Yes, our feet get dirty, but it remains that He has washed our whole being whiter than the snow. As we turn our faces to our Father, we may need constant cleaning, but as we bow before our Judge, the blood of Christ has cleansed us from all our sin -- past, present, and future. Not our feeble efforts, but rather, Christ's infinite merits guarantees our salvation.
We become confused when we make ourselves fruit inspectors. Spiritual balance requires constant correction. As John wrote, "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Every day, every minute, we pass through cycles of backsliding and repentance. Sometimes the cycles last moments; sometimes they last a lifetime. Consider this: We don't always come back to our Father willingly. Sometimes He has to chastise us. (In my case, He's had to hit me over the head with a spiritual 2 X 4 a couple of times.) In extreme cases, our Father might even call us home before we can cause Him any further embarrassment. For example, Paul recommended that one church deliver some unrepentant backsliders to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that their souls might be saved. For this reason, we make dangerous judgements when we focus on someone who has not consistently grown in the faith, when we decide that he or she never knew the Lord to begin with.
My dad illustrated this. As a boy, his father took him to every church in town, just to cover all the bases. Dad never told me details, but somewhere in his teen years, after he was orphaned, the religious people hurt him very, very deeply. Decades later, when I knew him, Dad had a fuzzy, undefined faith in God. I could never break through the cloudiness to figure out whether he knew the Lord. Although doubts plague me, I prefer to remember how he was faithful to mom and honored his vows, even with all she put him through. What he failed to show in doctrine, he taught by his fruits. Still, he left me in doubts; and parents ought not to leave their children that way.
Finally, Evangelist Tara Travis quoted Hebrews 6:4-6 to believers without explanation. Some churches cite this passage as evidence that you can lose salvation. (Their practice contains a contradiction, however. Despite the passage explicitly stating that re-repentance is impossible, many people who have "lost" salvation in those churches "get saved" again and again.) If you take Hebrews as a whole, however, you see that it refers to the nation of Israel, which had corporately tasted of the gifts of God, but now had rejected God, murdering His Son. By continuing temple sacrifices, they symbolically continued the murder of Christ. What constituted repentance before, now constituted rebellion and open insult to God. As a nation, therefore, Israel was about to undergo the ultimate punishment. (This connects to I Corinthians 14 and the only statement in the New Testament about the purpose and meaning of the gift of tongues.) If you read Hebrews 6:4-6 within the flow of the whole book and of history, you'll get an entirely different meaning than what sister Travis apparently assigns to it.
But to return all this to God's perspective: The Lord doesn't say to us, "What about your father?" or "What about that child over there?" The Lord says, "What is that to thee? YOU, follow me!"
Wow! Thank you for your comments Poorhouse Dad. I appreciate a good comment, and always like it when someone tells me I'm right. (Even with a caveat.) :) Blessings to you and yours!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and by the way, Poorhouse Dad, I and a fellow believer took the book of Hebrew chapter by chapter and verse by verse, so that we would know the context of the scripture Tara used. That is why I used a different verse in Hebrews to illustrate my point. Again, I say, it is sooo important that we are certain that what we say has a basis in biblical truth and the only way to do that is to READ OUR BIBLES. This is why I say this over and over again, readers. READ YOUR BIBLES. Know the truth for yourself as well. I am only a servant. I didn't write the Word that I quote. Thanks again for your input. I really appreciate it. (this wasn't so much directed to you as to all my readers.)
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