Once Saved, Always Saved?
If I can remember well, I have gotten saved one too many times. Not because I was not decided the first time I got saved, but because I would find myself out of fellowship with fellow Christians. I would eventually discover one day that I actually fallen out of fellowship with God, too, and I needed to re-dedicate my life to Him all over again. Maybe I was not too sure about it the first time. I say that because I did it because everyone was getting saved. I remember it was back in 1993 when I joined Limuru Girls High School. The CU Sunday services used to be so fiery and when the altar call was made almost all the ‘monos’ went to answer the call.
Staying saved in high school was very easy for me. The challenge came after high school and I found myself back at our rather ‘boring’ church. It wasn’t long before all the fire went out completely. My life has been full of ups and downs with God. One thing that I am proud of, amidst all my shortcomings, is the fact that I am never afraid of starting over again. Even when it seems like there is absolutely nothing to start over again with, somehow I always get something small to hold on to and help me move forward once again in my walk.
3 years ago, I suffered utter depletion. I lost my savings, I lost my property, I lost a very good job and as if that was not enough, I also lost a father figure, and a baby, all in a span of about 8 months! At that point, giving up would have seemed the best option under the circumstances. That light at the end of the tunnel didn’t seem to exist in my case. It was total darkness. I remember back in the hospital death seemed to be a better option compared to going home to a childless world. I was not only afraid of starting all over again, but I felt that God had failed me.
It took a good spiritual pruning for me to wake up to the realization that I am the one who had failed God. That is when I found the strength to start over again.
Most of us go through seasons in our spiritual walk when we don’t have a clue where to start over again with God, we don’t even remember where we left Him and from where we can pick Him. ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED? Tough question. A YES answer might invite debate. Some will argue that we are saved by grace and not by works so once saved always saved. A NO answer might send some back to theology school because you cannot commit murder and at the same time confess that you are saved. I am the kind of person that avoids debates because there is a race to be won, and my calling is not to win debates but to win souls.
The church sometimes gets into theological debates about grace and sin that only confuse believers even more. The simple fact is, we all make mistakes and often fall short of God’s glory. It is His grace and mercies that keep us in check. At this point, let me clarify that mercy is when God does not punish us according to our iniquity, when he withholds the judgement that we so rightly deserve, and grace is when God gives us that which we do not deserve.
Some of us, however, take these two aspects of God for granted and we go out there sinning because we believe there will always be a chance for forgiveness and a start over. We go on and on abusing His grace and by so doing we make it look like a license to sin. That is so wrong. Anyone that truly desires God will not continue to sin with the excuse that grace will abound.
Question is, do you sincerely desire to overcome sin and its powers? Do you sincerely strive to be more like Jesus daily? Even with the ups and downs of your walk, does your heart truly desire to finally start over, working out your salvation with fear and trembling? The fact that you desire not to sin does not mean that you will not, because we often miss the mark and need His forgiveness daily. I know that God is a God of start-overs not just because of people like Nehemiah of old and the Davids of the Bible, but because I have seen Him being that God in my life. Every time I realize that I have started to follow a path that is not in His will, I run back to Him. Sometimes I am too weak and too wounded to even run back to Him, but His grace always comes running towards me to welcome me back home.
You may be in a situation where you feel like you have fallen too far from His hand and are wondering if you are still qualified to receive His mercies and grace. Tell you what; his mercies are new each morning. God commands His mercies to meet you every morning, so choose to take advantage of these mercies and come back to Him when there is still time. I love that we are still living under grace, but a time is coming when it will be too late to start over again. So, my friend, this is the right time for you to start all over again.
That pile of rubble and dust that is your life, the one you are looking at and wondering if it is possible for it to be rebuilt, trust God to do just that. Let Him begin a new work in you. He specializes in making whole that which is too broken. Those pieces of your life that it seems no human can put them back together, you are right, no human hands can. But we have an almighty God who is willing to help you pick up those pieces and make you start over again. Our God never quits, and neither should you. He is waiting for you to return to Him, and will never turn His face from you, instead see what He is telling you in Joel 2:12 “Return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Start over again.
This is what the Lord is telling you,
“I see you trying to take a firm grasp on life yet you feel like there is nothing left to grasp anymore. I see the fear you have of facing the future, for you do not know what it holds for you. My child, you do not have to know what the future holds for you, all you need to know is that I, the Lord who commands the universe, I am holding your future in My very hands. My arm is endued with power; My hand is strong. Today, rest secure in that knowledge, and in the understanding that if I can clothe the grass of the field, which withers and is thrown away, how much more will I care for you, My child? Quit the anxiety, and trust Me to give you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your heart with food and gladness. I will feed you with the finest of wheat; I will satisfy you with honey from the rock. (from Whispers From Heaven – Book, page 6)
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