Once Saved, Always Saved?
Once saved, always saved? Absolutely! Salvation is a gift and by it's very definition, a gift is free. Once you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are saved forever. The truth of the matter is that many people tend to confuse salvation with faith and works.
We sometimes tend to think of it in terms of perfection, which is unattainable because the only perfect human is Jesus. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to live the best saved life we can. It just means that we shouldn't tear ourselves down when we unintentionally fall short of His will. We are spiritual beings on a human journey. Falling during the journey doesn't mean that we lose our soul's salvation.
How can we lose something that didn't cost us anything? Salvation is a gift that God offers to save you in this life and the next. God explained the benefits, made the offer and left it up to us to decide whether or not we would choose to accept Him.
A gift is accepted or rejected and once you've accepted the gift, in God's eyes, you've accepted it forever. Of course, don't get it twisted. God knows if you REALLY have accepted Him or not. He KNOWS when it's lip service. Accepting Christ...truly accepting Christ...comes with great measures of responsibility and accountability.We confuse 'being' saved with 'living' saved. Ideally, yes, you would accept the Gospel, be instantly washed clean and stay absolutely spic and span for the rest of your life. Therein lies an unhealthy view of what it means to be a spiritual being on a very human journey- WE ARE NOT PERFECT and never will be. We fall down sometimes, we backslide sometimes; yes, we SIN sometimes, but that doesn't make us less saved. Does that mean that after you've 'accepted' Him that you can go out and have a field day sinning and doing anything and everything under the sun because you believe you're covered? NO. Although there are no degrees of 'saved,' you'd actually have to BE saved for that coverage to be true. Either you're saved or you're not.
I like to use this analogy for pseudo-saved folk: I get into a car accident that's my fault and when asked for insurance, I submit a proof of insurance card that says I'm COVERED. However, when the person I hit files a claim with my insurance company, they get a rude awakening that I really don't have coverage. When that person tells my insurance company that I had a card that said I was covered, the insurance company replied, "We issue those cards 6 months at a time. It doesn't mean a person's covered." This is a perfect demonstration of how lip-service doesn't mean a thing. Having said that, I don't leave to me to decide who is and who isn't. It's not my call and I cannot see inside people nearly as well as God can.
Excluding pseudo-saved folk, falling short doesn't make us less God's sons or daughters. It just means that we need to learn to focus on building a one-on-one relationship with God and constantly ask Him for His wisdom, strength, perseverance and other spiritually empowering tools while simultaneously thanking Him for His constant grace and mercy.
So, I ask again: one saved, always saved? Heavens, YES. And thank God.
I so needed to read this today. I left the church couple of years ago to work and I have been going through a lot of personal criticisms. I value my relationship with God, but was wondering if I should still pray even though I am not active in the church, but I realiza now that it starts in our hearts.