Perspectives

By That I Mean

  • Peter Friesen, Author
  • Retired Minister

Romans 10:8-10… 8) But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9) If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (NIV)

When we get a little older, pension age that is, we often ask people to repeat whatever it is that has been said. I suppose we do that because we want to be sure we understood and got it right – after all, we do not want to go and mess up the story with half-truths.

That reminds me… Some time ago during our coffee time chatter, we were discussing the inevitable, the soon-to-be-expected end of our time here on earth. The question that gets bantered about often is… how do we know what will happen when we take our last breath?

Well, personally, my answer is, “I am going to be in heaven.” How do you know that? The Bible tells me so! Do you believe that Jesus stuff? Well! I am betting my life on it, and I do not want to risk my eternal future on some not-thought-through notion that all form of life ends after we have taken our last breath… so I am going with what the Bible teaches.”

This Scripture passage teaches that our salvation comes from trusting Christ and that it is within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is so close, that we may have missed the point.

It is as close as our mouth and heart. By that I mean, if we believe in our heart and go and tell others that the Lord of our life is Jesus Christ and that God the Father raised Christ from the dead; my Bible tells me that we will be saved.

Now that sounds easy, and I might add rather simple to do. You see, by believing in our heart, we become right with God, and then when we go and tell others of our newfound faith (That means we have just confirmed our faith in Christ; no one who believes in Jesus Christ will ever be disappointed) all who invite Christ into their heart will be saved as well.

Another idea that gets a good workout: Sometimes we feel that we must do something special to earn our salvation. I guess it is human reasoning that makes us feel that way, but that is not what Scripture teaches; no, not at all. It teaches that all our good works have nothing to do with earning salvation, even though I/we might think so!

All the wonderful things we do, the special events, the church services we attend cannot put us right with God. Now having said that; would you not agree that there would be something very wrong with us if our Christian faith does not move us to good works?

That’s right! Salvation is not a payment or a prize for all the nice things we do or have done; that idea just will not work. We cannot take credit for it. God Himself made us what we are. He is the One who gave us a new life. None of us would have been able to come to God without the help of the Holy Spirit. Salvation has nothing to do with good works but is a direct result of what Jesus Christ did for us. We are no longer strangers to our Heavenly Father, but we are members of God’s family, citizens of that heavenly kingdom… To God Be the Glory Great Things He Has Done.

Would you pray this prayer with me? “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I want my life to change. My thoughts and my attitude need to change. I do not have the peace in my heart that I yearn for. I want that peace, joy and happiness that fulfills my heart’s desire. Please let the Holy Spirit help me be the kind of Christian that will honour Your Name. Amen”