The Great Forsaking
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:” 1 Peter 1:17
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7
For years, I took salvation for granted. I believed Jesus is God’s Son, He came in the flesh, lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, was raised from the dead, returned to heaven to sit on God’s right hand until He comes again and will reign forever. I’d asked God to forgive my sins, read the Bible, went to church, had a pastor and Christian friends, and went on my merry way trudging through life’s trials as I took for granted if nothing else, if life on earth didn’t get better, I could look forward to getting relief in heaven. That’s what salvation is about, right? All I had to do was intellectually believe Jesus is my Lord and Savior and tell people they could say a prayer, ask Jesus into their hearts, and get their free tickets to heaven where we’d hang out happily ever after. Wrong!
God woke me up from my foolish, fanciful fantasy, led me to repentance, brought me by His Spirit deep into His Word, taught me the Truth and continues to do so, and compelled me to help others to wake up to the reality of His Word and coming Kingdom reign. We must not take salvation by repenting and believing in Christ for granted! We are fools if we believe we can live the way the world is living, according to the world’s ways and standards, and have a relationship with God now and forever in heaven! If we want to spend forever with Jesus Christ, we have to follow Jesus Christ! If we want to follow Jesus Christ, we have to FORSAKE the lusts of our flesh and turn to God and let Him by His Spirit through His Word change us as He prepares us to be with Him forever! A superficial glance at the Bible makes it look like forsaking all for Christ means we sell all our stuff and march off as missionaries far away. Ah, but what God desires above all else is our hearts – that we would forsake our wicked worldly ways, give up our lusts and selfish agendas, and wherever He plants us, whatever He gives us to do, that we would love and worship and serve Him with all our hearts forever. True salvation through Christ manifests in giving up ourselves to live and breathe for the Lord.
Are you?