How can we know that we are saved?

Is it possible for us to really know that we are saved? According to the Bible and most preachers, yes it is possible for us to know for sure. How many people know for sure? There is no answer to this question because the relationship that you have or don’t have with God is your business and it is between you and Him. There is no foolproof way of knowing if someone is saved by talking with them or looking at them because we don’t look any different from the outside. The proof is on the inside and that is where God sees the change and knows that there has been a change. We see it from the outside by the lifestyle that the person leads or the changes in their lifestyle.

When there is a true spiritual change in your heart and your soul, then it will show by your character and the changes in that character. If you were a person who got drunk every weekend, like I did when I was young and foolish, and after you accept Jesus you don’t want to do that anymore then that is the first visible change in your life. The language that you used before may change immediately or gradually, but eventually it will change. People will notice these changes.

I am not saying that it is required of every person to go through these changes, but consider this: if you wouldn’t do certain things in front of your mother or grandmother, then you shouldn’t do them when you have given your life to Christ. Mainly because He and His spirit are with you constantly after you have accepted them into your life. So, they are with you no matter where you go or what you are doing or saying from that point on. Would you take your pastor to a strip club? If you wouldn’t then you shouldn’t be going either is the point I am making.

In the book of Romans, Paul wrote: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Christ died for your sins and mine and everyone else on the planet, but He was raised to life everlasting on the third day. He did all that was necessary for us to become Christians, all that we have to do is believe in Him and ask Him into our hearts. Then, follow Him like the disciples did. Follow Him like many people follow their favorite singer or sports figure, but follow Him!

The change that comes into your life after receiving Christ is not immediate, but it is miraculous because you are not the same person that you were before and you can’t go back to the life that you had. Your life and your outlook on life is different, because your heart has changed. Once that has happened, everything that you are and everything that you do will reflect Christ to the rest of the world. You are responsible for your witness and everyone will be watching!

How does death affect you?

The life that each of us lives here is dependent upon the life that we are brought up in. How we are brought up by our parents or even the lack of parental figures can have a great impact on our life. But, what about our spiritual life? Our parents or grand-parents have a tremendous impact on how we view God or our belief in Him.

What about death? Does it have an effect on your life? It depends on who dies. If they are close to you like your father or mother, then yes it has a great impact on your life for years to come. Whether you admit it or not, it does have an impact on your life. Whether the death happens at a young age or if you are an adult also makes a difference.

What about your knowledge of their relationship with Jesus. Does that make a difference in how their death has an effect on you? For Christians, it does have a great impact because we have the hope of seeing them again in heaven one day. Then we will have an eternity to truly get to know them and understand them instead of the limited amount of time we have in this life.

Time, during our life on earth, takes away many joys of living because between our job and the things that have to be done for our children such as school, home-work, games, recitals, etc. all seem to get in the way. We do enjoy our children and being with them but wouldn’t it be better if we could get to know them individually, rather than watching them grow up in relation to other kids and their peers? I don’t mean to take their friends away or to school them at home (although that is what I do because I can’t afford the schools in our area), but to really get to know your children you have to spend time with them.

To get to know your friends, you have to spend time with them as well. “Facebook friends” are acquaintances, unless you live in a town that includes all of them and you take the time to get to know all of them! Many people could not know, really know, all of the people in their friend’s list. What about knowing Jesus? He is the most important friend that you can ever have and yet many just know about Him. They have heard about Him in church or from family, but they don’t know Him!

Death may not seem to have much in relation to knowing your friends or Jesus, but it does. Your friends’ death impacts your life. Your death will impact your family and your friends lives. If you are close friends, it will be a more profound impact. Just as the death of Lazarus had an impact on Jesus, it also had a profound impact on his sisters. When Jesus came to the tomb, “he wept” but He did not weep for Lazarus. He was weeping because of those who did not believe who He was, even after raising Lazarus from the dead.

Death is a great equalizer. No one can escape it and it comes to rich and poor, old and young, Communist or Democratic, and all continents and to those who believe in Christ and those who do not. Compared to eternity, which comes after death, our life is like a puff of smoke. I know that some may not believe that they have an eternal soul and I don’t have the proof to give you. But we will all find out about it after our death and our belief in eternity or not won’t change the reality that we will find ourselves in at that point.

Look for Jesus and salvation through belief in Him because eternity is a long time and I would rather meet you in Heaven than find out that you are in hell because of a decision not to come to know Him.

Do you know Jesus?

There are many in the world today who have either turned their back on Christ or they have never invited Him into their life in the first place. Many people live in areas where belief in Him would mean their death or imprisonment, but there are still followers of Christ there anyway. In my home country of the United States, there are many who are turning their back on religion, Christianity in particular and yet in other places in the world there are many who are embracing Jesus and the love that He offers them.

Why are there such divisions, so many who just turn away from Christ and from the way of life that He offers? It seems that there are so many choices, so many “ways” to serve a god and so many “gods”, how can this be? The trees and the fish cannot save you from going to hell. Your job, your spouse, your children or grand-children cannot save you, your grand-parents or your ancestors cannot save you either. What is the attraction to everything that is created, the creation instead of the Creator? Why can’t we realize that the One who Created it all is the One that we are to humble ourselves before?

The life that you have, and everything that is yours was given to each of us by God. We have these things because of Him, not because of something that we have done. Your job, your pay, your home, your family was given and provided for you by God because everything belongs to Him and always has. God’s Son, Jesus, came to give us a chance at being adopted into God’s family. All that we have to do is believe that He died for us and ask Him to come into our hearts.

When that happens, we change from the sinful people that we are into children of God. The transformation doesn’t give us the ability to be “gods”, it gives us the ability to come before Him and serve Him. I know that there are some people, in fact there are many people, who don’t like the idea of serving or being a servant. But, consider this, you and all of us were born as rebellious children. Our nature is that way from the time that we are small and only gets more so as we get older. Notice, I did not say “as we mature”, because we don’t mature until that side of our nature is either under the control of Jesus or by some force of our own will through meditation, martial arts or some other “mind over self” control.

When you have given your heart to Christ, He will come in and begin to clean things up, but this process is not immediate. Just as polishing a piece of brass takes time, so does our “clean up” take time. It may not be enjoyable and it likely won’t be fun but it is necessary. When you see an artist or a sculptor working on something whether it is a painting or a bowl, it doesn’t show up as a finished product immediately. It takes time. Just as when we pray for something like a healing in our family or a job, the answer doesn’t come the next day. It may not come for a week or two or maybe even a few months, but it will come in God’s time.

We have to understand this and at the beginning of our walk through life with Him, it is difficult. It is the most difficult lesson that we have to learn, but until we learn patience enough to wait on God and His answer, in His time, we will be frustrated and sometimes angry with Him. Asking for patience from God is a prayer which will be answered but you may not like the answer. Because in the cultivation of patience, God will try yours to the point of breaking. As the adage goes,”be careful what you ask for”!

God loves each of us far more than we can understand because He knew us before the foundation of the world. He could see into the future because He is outside of time itself and knows the beginning from the end. He knew then and knows now what you are doing and what you will do in the next second, the next minute, or hour or week or even the next decade if you have that long. He knows when you are going to die and the cause of your death, but He also when you will decide to give your life to Him or not. Nothing is a surprise to God!

The time and place of your birth, your life and your death are all known to God and have been known by Him since before the world began. Adam‘s sin the the Garden was known, Satan‘s rebellion against God was also known before it happened. God would not be God if He did not know these things, but He does. Give Him a chance in your heart and in your life before your life is over, because once you are before Him at your judgement it is too late. Your chance to come to Him is now during your life here, once the door to this life has closed and you stand before Him there is no second chance. Salvation is only a prayer away, just a few seconds of time to change your life forever. Think about it.