Some sins I confessed, so composure keep,
Growing self-praise for keeping to His word;
Other offenses I left buried deep,
Hoping to hide them from the Lord. unheard!
What a fool! From God is nothing concealed;
His eye is all-seeing, and all is known;
Each hair on your head to Him is revealed,
And each thought a-borning is clearly shown!
I planned, like a thief---half-confess, then rise,
My concscience pure, in heaven, a clean scroll;
But I got no joy, and no sin's reprise*;
No forgiveness for the guilt of my soul!
Then I knew, no pardon would ever come,
Until I confessed all, and not just some!
*forgiven and forgotten
Although to gain the approval of Jesus, it is often said that all you have to do is believe in Him, that can be an oversimplification. By the word 'believe' is not meant just mental assent; "believe" is used like a summary of things that take place when a person decides by free will to become a Christian. It is given free, but the recipient shoud at the very least make a change in lifestyle from one that is lived apart from Jesus and the Bible to one that lives with Jesus and the Bible. God is the only entity that can know truth in the heart of a person. No other human being can know for sure who is saved and who is not.
I will try to list what is meant by the words "believe in Jesus as Lord".
At the very minimum:
1. You believe that the historical man Jesus really was God limiting Himself to the capabilities of a man; though He was killed on the cross, yet He was resurrected from the dead.
2. You understand that your life has ignored Jesus and the Bible, and that you have sinned against His commandments. You repent, meaning you are sorry for your past; you talk to Him as prayer, asking Him to fogive your sins, and you vow to change your lifestyle---to make a 180-degree change in the way you live. the new things in your life especially being love for Him and love for others. Your new life attempts to eliminate all sin; you learn what sin is by studying His words in the Bible, and by daily prayers to Him.
I know this seems a lot more difficult to do than simply to 'believe'; but if you believe and yet do none of the other things above, you may not be truly saved. Remember, no man can judge whether you are saved or not---only God!
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2 comments:
I believe Jesus "gave" His life, not killed. He said, "Into Your hands I commit My Spirit" thereby indicating it was a choice He made not one that man made for Him.
S
Yes, but He made the decision to give up His Spirit in heaven when He decided to be born as a baby human. Once He set out on His mission, He was committed to die as a man; to say He 'gave' up His Spirit when it came time for Him to die, implies that He had freedom to refuse to give it up. Now if He had that freedom at that moment, it was a freedom not available to any other man, which would have made Him ineligible as a sacrificial lamb; that is, ineligible to take our sins upon Himself. That's why He said 'into your hands I give my spirit', just as we men say just before death.
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