Salvation with Uncertainty is No Salvation

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Salvation with Uncertainty is No Salvation
But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
- Psalm 37:11

Peace is found within God. Why we would look elsewhere seems trivial. Peace is an old echo from Heaven inside our soul, for the outward events in our life seem placed here only to challenge it. They do so constantly and very well. If heaven can echo would evil not do the same? It is from within that trouble has the ability to disable us by hindering our peace. If our soul is troubled then our heart is aware and we can only hide this for so long. Peace of God and peace with God may be two separate things, but in order to have the peace of God we must first be at peace with God.

Peace with God cannot rest on works, because if we can find salvation by works there would be no need for Christ and His work. By works our lives would be so occupied planning our next good deed and checking off our list of sins not committed, when would we ever spend time with the Lord? If I stop doing my works I will lose my salvation? If I don’t confess a sin, salvation will be lost?

The human sinful heart behind the good deed is what Christ sees, it was that heart He forgave because He is Love not because of our good deeds. His sacrifice is capable of covering sins we are not even aware of and even those we will commit. If in my confession I forget one sin, will salvation be taken away? There is one very important question --Is peace with uncertainty still peace? The truth is salvation with uncertainty is no salvation.

We can spend our lives trying to make peace with God, not realizing that in Christ it has already been done. A preacher once said “peace is the consequence of forgiveness” and it is in that forgiveness that we receive peace of God, we walk in to what has been done. His peace should be our delight and what all things should be compared with. When in put my sinful want side by side with God’s peace the answer is obvious. Still from time to time trouble does weight on our soul heavier than any earthly object, the outward casts many trials on the soul in another challenge to God’s peace.

Even if troubled for a season the believer still has peace, a box within a box for his soul rests in the knowledge of Christ’s love and forgiveness. We understand that this will pass and that we are not alone. We do often question “when?” and forget of who is walking beside us when we ask that. While the unbeliever may think that he has found peace, he is restless, maybe unaware of his state. I see it as two people: one who is sitting in the sand near the ocean sunset, able to hear the crashing waves and syncing his heart beat to the tempo of the sea as the sun beautifully falls. Meanwhile another sits in the same sand and in his hands a picture of a sunset, he looks and believes in that, this is his peace, for he took the picture and build the frame. When both are challenged what will happen?

Whatever has been used to challenge our peace with God should be put into prospective. After being wronged by a man Spurgeon said “…In comparison with my own offenses against God, I may well look upon this man’s offense as nothing.

I remember hearing my niece Gwen tell my brother she loved him, she was three years old. One could look at that and think “she is only a child…has not experienced life…how could she know what love is?” Can one only know love from heartbreak? There is no need for us to go and commit the gravest sin we can imagine in order to measure the distance it is from peace, thinking only then we will see the true worth of peace. How dare one say that because Gwen’s heart is small it means her love would be the same size? Because it is still unbroken it does not know it’s worth? The purest love, the kindest faith is that of a child for they are closer to heaven than we are. That echo of peace is still loud within their soul. Later on, life will do everything it can to be louder than it.

How wonderful to learn that as a believer there is more than just an echo, His voice is present in our lives while our soul rests in His abundant peace. We are like a small child trying to sing ‘I love you’ in harmony with our Father who is aware of not only the size of our hearts but size of our sin, still He loves us. He is more than an echo and bigger than any picture frame.

Do you feel uncertainty about your salvation? How can we find inner peace through the grace of Christ?