The MOST Important Thing

2 Corinthians 13:5—“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.”

          Girls, today I want to talk to you about the most important decision you will ever make: the decision of salvation. Probably most of you have grown up in church and have heard sermons about this dozens of times before, but the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine ourselves, to prove whether or not we are saved. Paul was writing this to the Corinthian church, which was a group of supposedly saved members, and yet he still commanded them to make sure of their salvation. This is a command that everyone needs to follow. The worst thing to happen would be to die and find yourself in Hell because you thought you were saved. Even if you know beyond 100% that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, please read this blog.

           As a kid, I was always afraid of death. I never had any close encounters, or anything, but I was always afraid of dying and going to Hell. I grew up in church, so every time I heard preaching or teaching on salvation, I would pray the prayer and relax, because I knew Jesus would answer me. When I was five, I heard a story in Wednesday night AWANAS about a little boy getting lost in the woods and finally, the rest of the group finding him. Of course, the application was we are all spiritually lost, and need Jesus to save us. I raised my hand, and the teacher took me to another room to talk to me. She is a sweet, sweet woman, and I love her dearly, but she was shocked that I was not saved. I was the “good kid”; the one that always one the quiet seat prize, always obeyed my teachers, never got into trouble, so she was shocked that I, of all people, was not saved. Sometimes we are surprised by those who come forward for salvation, but she did not simply lead me through the plan of salvation and then later tell me how shocked she was; she, while she was with me in the room, carried on about how she would never have guessed that I was not saved. This made quite an impression on me. My teacher told me to talk to my mom when I got home, so I did. My mom explained that it was not the prayer that saved me, but my faith in Jesus Christ. That night, I prayed the sinner's prayer as I never had before and received Jesus as my Savior.

          Years later, I again struggled with my salvation. This was mostly because as a teenager, when I heard messages on salvation, I heard about the heavy guilt loads that the preachers had when they got saved, and I had never had a heavy guilt load. Did this mean I had never been convicted of my sin? If I had never been convicted of sin, could I still be saved? I struggled constantly with this. I did not want to talk to anyone, because of the woman I talked to when I was five. I was still the “good kid.” People still thought of me as the model child. Was it pride that kept me from talking to anyone? Partly, but it was also the fear that the person would be so shocked she would not explain to me the answers I needed. Finally, I was lying in bed on September 1, 2006, and I could not take it anymore. From my room, I could see that the lights were still on, so I knew my dad was still awake and I went out to talk to him. He explained that little kids often don't have guilt loads when they accept Jesus; but we are supposed to make doubly sure we are saved (Philippians 2:12), and so I prayed again, just to have peace that I truly had accepted Christ.

Philippians 2:12~~~~"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

           Please, girls, don't let pride or fear get in your way of salvation. If you are not sure, please, find someone to talk to today. Call your pastor's wife, or a good friend. If she does not have the right reaction, it is on her shoulders, but if you don't talk to someone, it is your soul that will end up in Hell. All you have to do is trust Jesus to save you. We are all sinners; we have all transgressed God's holiness. There is no way we can reconcile ourselves to God, so Jesus Christ came and died for us, paid our price, and it is His blood that covers our sin once for all time. Anyone can accept this gift, no matter what she's done, and she will be saved. Jesus died for the whole world, but only those who accept His gift will be found in Heaven. It is not what we've done; it is not the prayer we say; it is the blood of Christ applied to our accounts. Please, have His blood applied to you today!