The Gift of Salvation

      The Biblical Image of Salvation helps believers to strengthen their relationship with God and also helps them to forget and move past their sinful lifestyles of the past and begin to live in the Truth and freedom of Jesus Christ. Sanctification is described as a renewed process of human’s sinful nature and describes how Jesus died on the cross for our sins, this allows humans to be saved by Grace through their faith in Him. Salvation is available for all humanity who trust God and follow Him, it is made available because of the work Jesus did on the cross; He died to save all of humanity from evil, but it is our choice to have Faith and accept this precious gift of Salvation. 

            First, look at the meaning of sin; the proper meaning of sin is anything that removes God from his proper place in our lives. Some example of sin Is idolatry, adultery, slander, murder, gossip, taking the Lord’s Name in vain, etc. the list could go on and on. However, we have been set free from sin because of the work of Jesus Christ. This means we have the choice to repent from our sins and turn our ways to Christ to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. To be sanctified is to be made Holy. The word sanctification means “holiness” and is actually referred to as a saint. The word Saint literally means “the sanctified one”. Jesus calls His followers to be Holy, and 1 Peter gives us proof that we are called to be this; as God is Holy and we ought to strive to be like Him in all of our ways. 1 Peter 1:15 states “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy”. We as humans are far from perfect and in fact, we will never be perfect. The only one who retains perfection is God Himself. However, we are called to lay down our old self (Ephesians 4:22-24) and pick up a new, sanctified self and live in it gloriously and honorable to God. Romans chapter six talks about how we should not take God’s endless mercy for granted or misuse it. The very first verse in Romans states “[w]hat should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not!”. The Scripture goes on to explain that we who were baptized were baptized into the death of Jesus Christ, so that we may walk out in faith and the new self. The end of Romans six tells us that by having the fruits of the Spirit, will result in Sanctification.

            The Biblical image of Salvation is tangible for anyone who reaches for it despite our sinful pasts. Salvation is being cleansed of our sins and being made new by our faith to Jesus Christ. Sin tries to keep us from this gift of entering the Kingdom of Heaven when our life on earth vanishes. Humans tend to reject this salvation because it requires us to be disciplined here on earth, rather than doing whatever we please. Our society is falsely assuming we must do what feels good or do whatever makes us happy, when that is ultimately not the case. Sometimes the sin may feel right or good in the moment, however it keeps us from this gracious gift of God, which means we have to fight the temptation of sin to continue to pursue Christ. This is the harder part about living in the new self, it requires more than just saying “I believe”. We Have to believe as well as continue to walk in our faith and tell of this good news.