3. There's Nothing You Can Do to Keep Your Salvation
Are you ready to get theological??
This one has been a long process for me. And I still don't fully grasp it. But something dawned on me a few years ago. My pastor recommended a book that was a little over my head. I powered through it and took notes and came out in the end with this nugget of truth:
I've always known that there's nothing I can do to save myself. I could never repay my own sins in a way that satisfies God's judgment. I 100% believe that I require Jesus to do so on my behalf. But I've always struggled with how to hold on to that salvation after it's given to me. How many good deeds do I have to do? How do I balance faith and works? What does grace really mean? What does it mean to take advantage of grace? Is that a salvation-losing-offense? Can you really even lose your salvation? I don't have answers to all of those questions. Haha. But it only makes sense that if I couldn't do anything to earn it, I can't do anything to keep it, right?
No part of my salvation depends on my goodness - either before or after the act of believing and receiving redemption. The Westminster Confession puts it like this:
(This post was taken largely from my original review of Trust in an Age of Arrogance by C. FitzSimons Allison. Click here to read the rest.)
To see more from my Write31Days series, click the image below:
This post contains affiliate links.
This one has been a long process for me. And I still don't fully grasp it. But something dawned on me a few years ago. My pastor recommended a book that was a little over my head. I powered through it and took notes and came out in the end with this nugget of truth:
I've always known that there's nothing I can do to save myself. I could never repay my own sins in a way that satisfies God's judgment. I 100% believe that I require Jesus to do so on my behalf. But I've always struggled with how to hold on to that salvation after it's given to me. How many good deeds do I have to do? How do I balance faith and works? What does grace really mean? What does it mean to take advantage of grace? Is that a salvation-losing-offense? Can you really even lose your salvation? I don't have answers to all of those questions. Haha. But it only makes sense that if I couldn't do anything to earn it, I can't do anything to keep it, right?
No part of my salvation depends on my goodness - either before or after the act of believing and receiving redemption. The Westminster Confession puts it like this:
The principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.It is on Christ alone that we are both justified and sanctified. Justified meaning made right with God (salvation) and sanctified meaning made holy before God. I've been made right with God once and for all and I’ve been made holy before God once and for all – despite the sins I commit after my justification/sanctification. The only reason for any of those things is “by virtue of the covenant of grace.” My works have absolutely nothing to do with it – either before or after salvation. The author of the aforementioned difficult book sums it up like this:
We contribute nothing to our salvation except "the sin from which we need to be redeemed."Understanding that is gloriously freeing.
(This post was taken largely from my original review of Trust in an Age of Arrogance by C. FitzSimons Allison. Click here to read the rest.)
To see more from my Write31Days series, click the image below:
This post contains affiliate links.
I find 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 super helpful for understanding the security of salvation :)
ReplyDeleteIt's big stuff to try to understand! You're right on about not being able to learn any of it!