Saved!

Saved!

because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9‭ AMP

The Context and Focus:

In a world that increasingly seeks other alternatives to God's Word, it is important to consider what God's divine path to salvation looks like, and as He promised. It will serve no useful purpose for me to seek to set up my own path to salvation, because the plan of salvation was never mine to set up, and I am unable to sustain it by my own power. God is the One who has had this plan in place before the foundation of the world, and He is also the only One who is able to bring it to pass. He is the One who can sustain all that He ordains, and He keeps his Word. These are just a few of the attributes of God that make Him unique and trustworthy, and He has been in this business of trust for even longer than the earth has been in place. Therefore, his view on salvation matters. How has he offered it, and what do I need to do to get it, and also to sustain it? This information is critical, so that I know whether what I hold is the real deal, or if have to drop the alternatives, no matter how attractive, and seek God’s version. There are two parts of the body mentioned in the verse above, and these are the mouth and the heart. There is a part that is visible to the world, and there is a part that is not visible.

The Message:

God makes a connection between the two parts, because from God's perspective, they are linked. The visible is the physical manifestation of the focus of the invisible. Whatever the visible produces is a function of what the invisible has stored up. Before the mouth will say something, the heart would have thought it through. It is almost as if the mouth has no mind of its own, but it reveals the focus and contents of the heart. This is why the bible says 'out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks'. Until a man opens his mouth, it is difficult to determine the wisdom or folly stored up in his heart. This is why the heart is important to God, because it is the first place the work of salvation by God is first planted, before it is made manifest in the life of the person. It is the mouth that acknowledges and confesses that Jesus is Lord. By a man's words, he is either justified or condemned. The mouth shows off the heart's condition. The basis of a good confession is faith in the truth of whatever it is you want to confess. This is also why the world treats lying under oath as a crime, because you are coming to testify to what you have seen, heard, tasted, felt or smelt.

The Conclusion:

If there is no connection between the convictions of your heart and the confessions of your lips, the truth will eventually catch up with the deceit. This is also why a Christian cannot be hidden, because the confession of your lips must match the profession of your life. I cannot say one thing and do the opposite. That is hypocrisy and eye-service which God hates. The heart is like the battleground for control of my life, and it matters who is in charge, because the control centre defines its eternal reality. The key focus of salvation is the conviction that Christ died for my sins, was buried, and rose again, to offer his own immortal life for my own mortal version, so that death, the natural consequence of sin, would no longer operate over my life. That is salvation. If that is not the focus of my heart, and the foundation of my confession, then whatever I hold is not the real deal. I have to take stock today, and ensure that I hold on to that which is real. The end draws near, when salvation from sin will be the basis of entry into the eternal life promised by God. Do you have it? God's time of favour is here.