Rejoice in Salvation
Recently, I heard a story of a church where an individual became a new believer. The excitement of the decision overtook the new follower of Christ and the individual shared Jesus with everyone he came in contact with. After a couple of weeks of this behavior, a Sunday School class discussed the boastful nature of this new believer. During the conversation, an individual who had been a member of the church for many years simply said, “Just give it a few weeks until he gets over his salvation.”
What a terrible thought. The thought that we could get over our salvation. Yet, so many times we find followers of Christ living in a way that they have gotten over his or her salvation. The first love of redemption has given way to the pressures of life. This was the warning that was given to the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation, they had lost their first love. They had gotten over their salvation.
To guard against getting over our salvation, we must constantly remember and rejoice in our salvation. First, we need to be thankful that we are saved. We do not deserve the gift of eternal life that is offered to us. In fact, our sinful life deserves the death penalty that is eternal in nature. But God desired to reconcile us to himself through Christ’s work on the cross and in the resurrection and offered us reconciliation through a relationship with Jesus. Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). We must never get over this gift but must be rejoicing and thankful daily that God made a way that a sinner could become a saint. May we never get over this salvation.
Second, we ought to be thankful that we can be sure that we are saved. Not only can we live joyful of our salvation, but the Bible tells us that we can be sure of our salvation. The Apostle John wrote, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13). Part of rejoicing in salvation grounds itself in the reality that we can know that we have eternal life. We must never get over our salvation because we can know that we have received life when we deserved death. This means that we are not hopeful of eternity as wishful thinking, but we are hopeful with certainty. This is worth rejoicing in daily.
Third, we ought to be thankful that we are saved, sure of our salvation, and eternally secure. The Bible is clear that when one is genuinely redeemed, the individual is not only sure in his or her salvation, but the believer can live in the certainty that he or she is eternally secure. Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). We should never get over our salvation because it is eternally secure.
What a great salvation. May we never get over our salvation. May we rejoice always in being saved, being sure of our salvation, and being eternally secure.
