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!
