Steps to Salvation

I believe a personal relationship with God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. When you see a person who is happy and contented, lives a fulfilled and productive life, handles difficulties and tragedies with grace that seems extraordinary or totally unbelievable, rest assured, what you see is not human strength, but the grace that comes from God. It is available to everyone who will accept it by faith. In the next few paragraphs I would like to share how you can experience this for yourself.

The first step is confession of sin. The Bible tells us “If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) So confession to God—admitting the sin in our lives—is the first step.

The second step to a personal relationship with God is repentance. The Bible says “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. (Acts 3:19a) In other words, we tell God we are sorry for our rebellion against him, our neglect of a relationship with him and our tendency to do our own thing with no regard for what He knows is best for us. There may also be specific sin that should be confessed. God already knows all about us, but for our own sake, we confess sin so we can be rid of it. Sin destroys people and it is something we all have to deal with until we surrender our lives to God. Even after we make a full surrender to God, our enemy Satan will try to interfere and it is important that we depend on God’s Spirit to be our friend and companion and give strength and guidance for whatever we face.

The third step to salvation is to “Believe on the Lord Jesus,…” (Acts16:31a). Belief, however, is more than mental agreement. This belief is a firm acknowledgement that Christ is the only means of salvation. But, and this is important, he is also all that is needed. Jesus Christ, God’s son, came to earth with the express purpose of making salvation available to all.

The remainder of this verse (Acts 16:31b) continues “and you will be saved—both you and your household.” We are saved from a life of sin, not by our own good works, but through faith in Christ, and a commitment to serve him to the best of our ability for the rest of our lives. That is not a life sentence, but a promise of an abundant life that is also eternal. Heaven really begins when we accept Christ as Savior and as long as we trust in him we live, even when we die. When we accept Christ as Savior, death becomes a mere doorway through which we walk into an even greater life.

I encourage you to pray through these three steps. Just talk, personally and from your heart, with God as if he were sitting right there with you. He is.

The final step in the abundant life with God is to continue to live your life surrendered to him. He loves you and wants what is best for you. You can trust him to guide you and give you the strength you need to serve him and be the best spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, worker, boss, etc. that you can be. God’s power will flow into and out through you, to help you be all he wants you to be, and do all he wants you to do. Trust him that what he wants for you is what you would want if you knew as much about life and the future as He knows.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.