When I was asked in church on Sunday, I was moved to accept the truth of my salvation, whether I believed in Jesus Christ. For all the angst I felt about a public declaration of faith, hindsight suggests that it was such a simple question and should have been received with instant affirmation, but I recollected that it was not. I’ll save that story for later, but my point is that it is all about Jesus. I mean, the simplicity of salvation is rather easy to comprehend. We complicate things because we live in a world that, in many ways, is dominated by Satan.
And as my bible study classmates will tell you, Satan is as slick as they come. He has a 24/7 job, which he relishes, so why not? We keep him highly motivated. One of my favorite parts of the bible that I would ask you to read and reread is the confrontation between Jesus and the devil. It’s all right there. What Lucifer tempts Jesus with is what he traps us with. The Son of Man is the only human being strong enough to win the battle of good and evil. We need help, and that help is defined and identified in Matthew 4:1-11. Each time the devil tried to get Jesus to prove himself or to worship Satan, Jesus’ reply was, “It is written.” The fallback position for Christ at this critical moment for all of us was to rely on scripture. So, for me again, it is all about Jesus. Once again, we have it affirmed that we fight the battle of life and death and (eternal) life with the ammunition provided to us contained in the Word. If you take nothing else from what I’m saying, take this. Don’t go into battle with a gun that is not loaded. For God’s sake, take some ammunition. If Jesus used the Word to win His battle, we must at least try to do the same thing. I’m so moved by this passage because all you must do to be saved is acknowledge. Christ‘s position in the universe, and do your best to emulate and follow his example. This rather short piece of text provides a blueprint for everything that follows. Ironically, once the devil was defeated, “…angels came and attended to Him (Jesus).” Everything, and I do mean everything and more, that the devil offered, God granted.
So, on that Sunday about which I spoke of my conversion, I kept thinking there was more to my salvation than three simple affirmations of faith: Yes, I believe in Jesus, Yes, I believe He is the Son of God, Yes I believe he died for my sins and rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father. That’s it. Now go back and read about His greatest challenge on the battlefield of life. Recognize He won, and when He did, we did. Now, for His sake and your own, arm yourself in this Word thing and fight today’s battles. Just remember that’s all they are, battles. You’ll win some, and you’ll lose some. But the war is already won. Arm yourselves in Christ’s Word. Rely on Him.
Put your faith in Him…
May God bless and keep you always.