Today, when saying my morning prayers, I came across a writing from St. Augustine of Hippo (430 A.D.). His writing made me take pause because it was well over one thousand, five hundred years ago that he had such thoughts! Who are we to say that salvation comes from "faith alone?" Not only is this belief not scriptural, but such a belief has been denied since early Christianity! St. Augustine is writing that there are those who grasp the good news and no longer have despair. Yet, he writes, "there is another pitfall" and that is that even though some Christians, through their new faith are relieved from despair, the soul "perishes from hope." He writes: "And who's the sort of person who perishes from hope? I'll sketch you his portrait: the kind of person who says to himself, 'Now God has promised to pardon all who turn away from their sins-the very day they are converted he will forget all their iniquities. So I will do whatever I want, and whenever I want to I will have a conversion, and what I have done will be blotted out.' "
By believing that once we claim Christ as our Savior, we can now live our lives in whatever fashion we desire and we are now "saved," we become our own God. We become our own judge of salvation. We, in a very real sense, are making our selves God. We may not want to take the word of St. Augustine of Hippo, but what does Scripture say?
Scripture does not tell us that we are saved by faith "alone" but rather that we must continually live our lives as a willing servant of God, as one who takes each day and does not do whatever he(she) wants and tells themselves that since they BELIEVE that Jesus died for our sins, they are saved no matter what they do. (See scripture below) We are saved through faith but it does not give us a license to live a sinful life without being truly and thoroughly repentant for our sins! Father, we cannot thank you enough for the gift of salvation through your Son, Jesus Christ! We pray that all that we live our lives to glorify you....and we pray that you will help us to have repentant hearts for all our sins so that we may purify our lives, our very souls. You know our minds and hearts, how genuine our sorrow is and how genuine our efforts are to live without sin. In your love and mercy, we pray for the gifts of faith and hope but especially the gift of genuine love of you, because it is because of our love for you that we are truly repentant and promise to change our ways so that we may some day spend eternal life in your perfect, holy kingdom. Amen. (Posted by Jan for Michele)
Philippians 3:12-14 "It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ (Jesus). Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God's upward calling, in Christ Jesus."
Romans 11:22 "See, then, the kindness and severity of God; severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off."
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