Why is it that some people feel like they can lose their salvation? I’m curious. I’ve never really had the opportunity to speak with anyone who believed this on a face-to-face level. So I’m not sure where the concept comes from.
I have always figured it’s either pride or lack of knowledge about the Bible. Or maybe a combination of both. Because if you know the Bible, you would know that God says over and over again that once you’re saved, you’re always saved.
Like today’s verse, 1 Peter 3:18 —
18 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
I’m not sure how much plainer this could be. The word suffered there actually means “died” in case you were wondering. This verse says it. Christ died for our sins once for all time.
He died for all our sins all at once.
If we were able to lose the salvation He offers us, wouldn’t it stand to reason that He would have needed to die more than once?
And this isn’t the only verse. Scripture is full of verses talking about how no one can take us out of God’s hand and how those who believe in Christ will never never never never die. There’s evidence all over the Bible. So why do people people that salvation is something they can lose?
Personally, I think the idea came about because we crazy human types have this problem with accepting free gifts. We think there’s something we have to do to earn it or to be worthy of it. Now, granted, gratitude is never misplaced when someone gives you a gift. But you don’t have to be worthy of a gift. You don’t have to earn a gift. If you have to earn it, it becomes a reward and the Bible says clearly in Ephesians 2:9 that salvation is not a reward.
A gift is free, no strings attached, no ifs ands or buts.
But salvation is such an amazing gift. And accepting a gift like that takes humility because to accept it means we are admitting we’re not good enough to get to heaven on our own. So we add bits and addendums to God’s word, telling ourselves that the better we act or the more good things we do, we will make ourselves worthy to receive God’s salvation. But you can’t live like that.
Yes, it’s right to live a life according to the Scriptures. And it’s right to do good things for other people. But what is your motivation? If you’re trying to be good enough to earn salvation, you won’t ever achieve it because no one can be good enough. And eventually you will crash and burn because no human being can live up to those standards, and not only will you bring yourself down, you’ll bring everyone around you down too.
But when you realize that you can’t ever be good enough, you understand God’s love for you. Sort of. I don’t really understand how God can love me. I’m a major screw up most of the time, and He never fails me. So I’m not sure how His love works. I just know it does.
And when you understand that there’s nothing you can do to earn God’s salvation, you also understand that there’s nothing you can do to lose it once you’ve accepted it. People get so mixed up and confused about God and the Bible, but if they would just sit and read it, they would understand so many things that culture has misinterpreted.
I didn’t do anything to earn my salvation. There is nothing I could have done to have been worthy of it. All of my good works and everything I have strived to do right in my life amounts to nothing in the face of God’s pure perfection. And that’s not me being overly dramatic or self-deprecating. That’s the truth. God is perfect. I’m not. So when imperfection tries to be perfect, the only result will be frustration. That’s why God doesn’t ask us to be perfect. He asks us to believe.
God gave me salvation when He gave Jesus to the world. My salvation is through Christ alone, believing He is who He said He is and trusting that His perfection is the key to my relationship with God. And no one can take that away from me, not even myself.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Always Peachy 