Redeeming the Time

People make salvation more complicated than it is. It all comes down to believing the true God, Jesus Christ, AND loving Him. Not believing as the demons do, for the demons know who He is and believe what He said but they don’t love Him. They hate Him! (James 2:19).

For the rest of us, there is a book that tells us all about Jesus. Men have been trying to get rid of this book unsuccessfully for thousands of years, but it's still as true today as when it was written. It's called the Bible. If you believe and love what it says, you will believe and love this Jesus and you will live your life in light of that truth. (Romans 10:9). That's salvation.

You will not live your faith perfectly, because perfect faith requires sinlessness. And we know that sinlessness is impossible for the seed of Adam (all people). But that's why Jesus, the sinless One, had to pay the price for my sins and whosoever would believe in Him (John 3:16).

All this is simple enough to be grasped by a child. In fact, Jesus Himself said that unless we received the kingdom of God with the faith of a little child, we would not enter into it. (Mark 10:15). It is only as we continue to live in this world full of darkness and sin that our hearts (the real "who" that we are) become hardened to spiritual truth. Decades of relentless "education" that denies spiritual truths has its effect on most who live a long life here. If I was writing a book titled, "How This World Really Works", chapter 1 would be called, "The Conspiracy To Conceal Christ".

That's why it is quite a defeat for the devil and his demons when an older person comes to faith in Jesus. God is still able to open the spiritual eyes of the most hardened sinners and have them see these simple truths. I thank God He did it for me. Sadly, that is the exception to the rule (Matthew 7:13).

The goal of the devil is to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). He tries to do that whether you belong to Jesus or not. If he doesn't kill your body right off the bat, he works to steal your time and destroy your usefulness for Jesus. Therefore, as we are not promised tomorrow, we should not put off deciding in our hearts TODAY who Jesus really is. Neither should we put off living our lives in light of it. Because time is short (James 4:14), and the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).

Saving faith in Jesus is just the beginning, although a crucial one. What we do for Him afterwards here on Earth will be determined by our faithfulness. And the clock is ticking, so make every second count. Redeem the time.

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