Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation thinking, okay, this has to be too good to be true? I remember when I first started feeling that way about my faith. See, I'm a doer. I have this innate sense that anything good in life I have to earn. I was raised with this mindset that nothing in life comes for free.
Growing up in the church and hearing this message that the gift of salvation was just that, it was a free gift to be received. My response was, well, what do I have to do? It was hard for me to comprehend that something so good could actually be true and freely received. But this is exactly the message that the Bible tells us.
The Simple Truth of Salvation
One of those places is from one of my favorite books. It comes from Romans chapter 10, verse 9. Let's read that together. The Apostle Paul says, "If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Just meditate on that truth for a second. These are one of those verses that we can breeze through. Maybe we've heard it over and over, but the weight of it should really hit our hearts. This is all we have to do to be saved. Declare that Jesus is Lord and believe with sincere faith that our God raised Him from the dead to give us new life, and we will be saved. Not quit that addiction and you will be saved. Not get rid of that sin or end that relationship and you will be saved. Not be a better person or do harder and you will be saved. Declare and believe and you will be saved.
There's no part of this that requires your earning or your effort or your striving. That's really good news for us. But do you know who else that is good news for? Anybody who will listen. If you continue with the message that Paul is getting across in Romans chapter 10, he's explaining the fact that this good news of salvation is for anybody to receive. It doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter what you've believed before. Jesus wants all of us to have a relationship with Him.
Two Main Points
There's two main points that I really want us to pull from this. First is, if you haven't put your faith in Jesus, I want you to consider doing that in this moment. You don't have to be sitting in a church seat. You don't have to be surrounded by a bunch of other people. This is a decision that you get to make between you and the Lord by simply declaring He is Lord and believing in your heart that He died for your sins, and He rose to new life by the power of the Spirit, and He wants to give you resurrected eternal life. There's no special prayer. No magic words. Paul puts it really plainly: declare and believe and you will be saved.
Second, if you are saved, I want you to take this moment to ask yourself, who in my life can I share this message with? Paul's whole point is that the good news is only good news for the people who actually hear it, and how can they hear it if there's not somebody who's bringing it to them?
Go and Make Disciples
That is a call for every believer to go and make disciples by preaching the Gospel and by offering salvation through the power of the Spirit, by the sacrifice of Jesus, to the glory of the Father. Look around your life, because I guarantee you there's probably people who need to hear it. Maybe people that you think, you know, they're probably already saved. Don't take that risk. Eternity is on the line. This is a huge opportunity that we get to partner with God in His ministry, for His mission, to build His kingdom.
Let's live this out to see our opportunity of sharing the Gospel as a blessing, not a burden. Let's praise God for this free gift of salvation as we bring that message to the world.
