Today's sermon really spoke to me, it's exactly what God has been trying to tell me the past 2 days.
Yesterday i read about Salvation, and what it really means, in a book called, "To Love With All Your Heart." It talked about
Justification being the starting point that one says the Sinner's Prayer, where sins are not only redeemed, but the person is bestowed with righteousness. It talked about
Glorification, the ending point(of earthly life), where one goes to Heaven to be reunited with the Lord. These are things i know...but then the book went on to talk about
Sanctification.
What happens in the time after a person says the Sinner's Prayer, and before he/she dies? Such a long lapse of time, what are we supposed to do? Sanctification, a process of growing to become more and more like Jesus.
So often in the Christian life we pray and hope for salvations, and seem to equate it simply to an utterance of a prayer. But that is not the end. That is but the beginning. The moment when we say the Sinner's Prayer, that is when we are handed The Golden Ticket to Heaven. A ticket that is given to us free of charge, paid in full by the Blood of Jesus.
But what we do with that ticket is the crucial part. Do we take good care of it, and protect it well for the Day of usage? Or do we chuck it one side, damage it, or lose it even?
I had a horrible start to my day today. A series of unfortunate events left me really upset, absent for SOL3, crying and even swearing. It reminded me of the days of depression, and i just felt so angry, so fearful, so...incredibly upset. I started praying, and asked God to show me what is the lesson He wants me to learn from today's incident, and not to let it go to waste. So i picked up my Bible and read today's Psalm. And God answered me, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever." (Psalm 111:10)
The Sanctification process is not easy. The natural tendency of every human being is sin. It is a daily battle, and today the Lord is trying to remind me, that by myself, i am incapable of keeping His ticket well. I need His grace, daily, to continue walking with Him. And it is the Fear of the Lord that would keep me from sin. It is the Fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom, of knowledge, and of intimacy. When i fear the Lord, i do not have to fear anything/anyone else. When i fear the Lord, i will have the fire and passion for Him. When i fear the Lord, i will walk daily in His will and not stray away.
Lord, we're sorry for taking Your grace for granted at times, thinking foolishly and naively that Justification would allow us entry to Your dwelling places, stubbornly going our own ways even after You've paid such a high price for us. I thank You Lord that today You've reminded us that You are not just a Loving God in the New Testament, and a Terrifying God in the Old Testament, but Lord You are the Alpha and the Omega, You are the never-changing God who is both Loving and Terrifying, because You are Holy, and yet filled with Grace. Help us Lord, to learn to fear You, to continue to 'work out our salvation with fear and trembling'.
For "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" -Matt 7: 21-23
(It's damn scary, i was searching for this verse on biblegateway.com for 5 mins and couldnt find it, then i opened my Bible and THERE IT WAS.)Have you taken care of your ticket today?
Kaelyn
