Truly Saved?

Songs: Come Thou Fount – performed by Paul Heflin
Bless the Broken Road – performed by Selah

Scriptures:
Luke 9:62 (New King James Version)

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

2 Peter 2:20-21 (New International Version)

20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Hebrews 6:4-8 (New King James Version)

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

John 10:25-30 (New King James Version)

25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one."

Romans 8:29-31 (New King James Version)

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

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A friend of mine and I were talking recently about an incident where a person was voicing their beliefs about one’s ability to “lose their salvation and die in their sins.” I’ve heard others talk about people not being saved “for real” or where “their salvation didn’t stick,” just as I’ve heard the “once saved, always saved” defense. I have heard and read of people who “turned away from God.” So, having heard all sorts of conflicting viewpoints on this - many supported by the seemingly credible use of Bible verses - I asked God what was and was not true. And, knowing that His truth is sometimes revealed in dichotomy, my query was not only for which belief was true, but how could I understand, relate to, and make sense of what was meant by the Scriptures used in these views. As He often does, He didn’t answer the question one way or another, but reminded me of an experience I had.

One morning, about 4:00am, I was coming home from driving my son to work. I was about 5 minutes away when the “check engine” light came on my dashboard. I thought I would make it home since I was so close. As I merged from one expressway to another, I felt the car lose power and I steered it off to the shoulder of the road. Stopped, I just sat there for a few minutes. I honestly had no idea what was wrong with the car. I contemplated calling Triple A (AAA road service), but realized I couldn’t tell them what was wrong with it. Then, I got mad. I was mad at “God and everybody.” I got out of the car and started walking down the expressway, fussing at God for my situation. Several things in my life weren’t going as I wanted or expected at that point, but I thought I was doing what God wanted me to do (even when it didn’t make sense to me or wasn’t something I wanted to do.) So I figured that if things were going to go so badly, I might as well stop these efforts at obeying God (which must not have been working, or else I wouldn’t be in this mess, right? Didn’t think about Job…) – might as well go back to doing things my way, the way I’d been doing them before I’d really been trying to know God better. The time came, as I was walking, for me to call some ladies that I had prayer with in the mornings. Having exited the highway onto the street, I sat on a wall and called them, just letting them know that I wouldn’t be praying with them that morning. I was in no mood for prayer – I was already talking to God, telling Him what I thought and what I was going to do.

All the way home, God was silent during my tirade. When I finally crossed the threshold into my house, I heard that still, small voice say sadly, almost remorsefully, “Do you want to leave Me too?” At that I broke. Sobbing – my anger spent - I poured out my heart to Him: all of my thoughts and fears, my pains and discomfort, my frustration and confusion. I realized (like the disciples in John 6:66-68) that there was no other place, no other way for me to go. As I’d recently heard a pastor say, I was “in too deep.”

That was a sort of turning point, where my mind was made up – I had decided to follow Jesus. My goal was that there would be no turning back because of circumstances, feelings, whatever. I repented and was forgiven. Then came thanksgiving – for God’s blessing in the restoration of our relationship, for His protection in getting me safely home that morning, for His provision in the way and place my car had given out, for lessons presented and learned.

As in the song, Come Thou Fount, my prayer was that God would continue to keep my “wandering heart” by binding it to Himself:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

So I can’t say that I have the answer for anyone else but me. I was asked if I wanted to leave Him, which leads me to believe that I could have left Him, His way, His protection, if that was what I chose to do. Whether or not that would have been leaving or “losing” my salvation, I’m not sure… and I’m not sure it’s that important to me, if that’s even the right question on which I should focus. I do know that I really don’t know the fullness of salvation… (see upcoming blog entry, The Fullness of Salvation.) What matters most to me is my current relationship with Him. My salvation is an ongoing thing – for the present as well as the future – my being able to receive, give back and share His love, and His living His life out through me.
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Ephesians 1:3-14 (New King James Version)
Redemption in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

... and my journey with Him continues ...