Real Redemption
Soul salvation is a topic no longer within public domain. By this, I mean that there is no general understanding of what real salvation really is. Perhaps, it has ever been so, but the gospel in call, content and conversion seemed greater in the days of my youth as did the consensus of its nature. There was a more general agreement among the masses as to what salvation does for a person and to a person. We could and should say that its understanding was more biblical in days gone by. Former conversions support this view.
It is common these days to see salvation marketed as a commodity apart from commitment. While it is true that none of us is fit to judge another, it is also true that the Bible judges us all and indicates that salvation is a life-changing experience. When I say that the former understanding was nearer the mark, I mean that the unregenerate tended to agree with the regenerate to a greater degree that salvation made an observable difference in a person. Today, the popular understanding is the other was around.
It’s not that people don’t hope for change after salvation- it’s that they don’t see the two as necessarily connected. I have tried to be nonjudgmental of new converts because there is such variance in experience prior to salvation, but I have observed that some get it and some don’t. The question, then (which I cannot answer), is whether there was any real salvation in the first place. We should leave this to God, but there is no biblical support for an unconverted convert. There is church support for the same.
It may be that the internal conflict that necessarily precedes salvation is missing in many cases. What was called conviction is not often referenced today. More often, the emphasis is on the joy that salvation brings. This is fine and true, but joy is a characteristic of false conversion as evidenced in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. Grief accompanies grace and no line is forming at the window. Paul referred to “godly sorrow” that brings about a change in lifestyle. The change is not perfection- it is direction. Repentance is a change of mind.
Is it that people do not count the cost of following Christ and are surprised at the checkout counter? Everywhere we look in the New Testament, we are told to be prepared for the challenges of Christianity. The challenges are brief, but real, and unworthy to be set at variance with the blessings of belief. However, it is falsehood to say there are no challenges and no crosses to be borne by the faithful. It used to be said, “There will be no crown-wearers in heaven who were not cross-bearers on earth.” I said it used to be said.
Society has lost its serious, moral base. In degree, that may be said of the church and Christians. Yet, there is real change and real conversion today. We are living in a wonderful time for the spread of the gospel, but it is a time which is unfriendly to those who march to the drumbeat of heaven. God help us be genuine in our faith and practice in a time of misinformation. You can live for Christ in perilous times as has been done throughout history. There are real sinners. They need to see real saints.
Sterl
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