The Gracious Gift of Salvation - First Things First By Lisa Lawrence-Hudson aka RawEssence Before I accepted Christ, I thought, like so many others, that I "had to get right" before I could get saved. I now know how ridiculously impossible my thinking was. You see, 'church folk' often make the mistake of  leading people into thinking that you are not saved if you act a certain way, or had certain failings. They generally confuse the Christians call to righteousness with the gift of salvation much to the detriment of the church. I believed in Jesus, and I really wanted to be saved- but, in my secular mind, I knew that I had a lot of issues, and, I reasoned that I'd rather wait until  I changed my lifestyle or habits before I accepted the call to be saved. Besides, all the Christians I knew seemed to be hypocrites because a lot of them had the same issues I had. I also had a problem with what I called "lightning bolt Christians". You know the kind, go to church for three Sundays in a row and come out claiming to be zapped by the Holy Ghost, sanctified, tongue-talking and taunting hell and damnation to everybody who doesn't go to their church! I'd often see these same people months later only to find that they no longer attended church. I delayed getting saved for many years because of this misrepresentation of the gift of salvation. But by the grace of God, my life was spared until I could clearly see and accept his precious offer.   I believe that many more people would come to Christ if they understood the Grace of God and the free gift of eternal life for believers.  It is only when we confess Christ that we become righteous.  Jesus commends, or attributes HIS righteousness to our account because we are unable to be truly righteous in our own right. First things First! When we confess Christ, we become Christians and partakers of his righteousness, then we are enabled  and called  to live holy as Christians. When we truly give ourselves over to the Lord Jesus, he processes our spirit, which manifest - over time- into a changed lifestyle.  Satan wants to keep people in the dark and confused about the issue of salvation and our charge to live holy. This is one of the main tactics he uses in the church to hinder God's children from coming to Christ. The Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines "GRACE" as —" favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves. Grace is one of the key attributes of God. (6And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth...)" In  Deuteronomy 30:19 the Lord says " I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live". The Lord commanded that death be the punishment for sin and disobedience. God told Adam and Eve that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would result in their death. (Gen:217) Our sin results in both spiritual and physical death. Spiritual death causes us to be separated from God and if we physically die in that state, we will be eternally separated from God in hell.  Before Christ, we were all condemned to die because all have sinned. Ro 5:12  The bible teaches that all have fallen short of the glory of God and that all have sinned!  Sometimes it is hard to accept this because churches are full of self-righteous folk who claim to never sin! But anyway, for us truthful folk, we know that no one can keep the whole law on their own.  Mankind, then, was forever doomed to be separated from God.  God demanded death for our sin, therefore each of us deserves to die. That is the cost affixed to sin since the beginning of time. It is the price we all presently owe God.  It doesn't matter how good you try to live, how righteous you try to be or how much you give to your local church. The Lord says that your righteousness is but filthy rags (Is 64:6) and you still owe him death for your sin. So how then, are we reconciled to God? Through his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who was without sin,  (unblemished and pure) became the atoning sacrifice for all the sins of mankind, past, present and future. Ro 3:16 begins, "6For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. God, who is merciful and longsuffering, provided a way for us to pay our debt and be reunited with him in everlasting life!  Jesus said in John 10:10, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Grace is the unmerited favor of God! You don't deserve it. You can't earn, borrow, or steal it.   Your salvation is a gift of God   to those who confess Jesus Christ as their Savior according to Roman 10:9. Won't you accept your gift today? ©1999 Lisa Lawrence-Hudson The Black Writers Alliance WebRing This site owned by: L.E.Lawrence