Nothing Else Needed

Matthew 17: ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. ⁷ But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” ⁸ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

¹⁰ The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹ Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. ¹² But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

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“Salvation is free, all you need to do is believe” I was told, so I did. I believed that I was saved from an eternal state of hell. “What a relief!” I thought to myself. But as time went on, problems arose. Maybe my salvation came a little too easy. “I better try to be saved a little harder by not sinning as much” I thought to myself.

• Sometimes I try to supplement what JESUS has already done.
• Sometimes I put up rules to make me feel saved by accomplishments.
• Sometimes I tell GOD “Look at what I have done” as if to say “I deserve salvation.”

GOD made salvation so easy that all I need to do is believe in HIS position, power and my problem of sin. It is that simple. But over time I thought salvation meant doing a whole bunch of stuff that seemed righteous in order to “remain” saved. I became exhausted!

• GOD’s salvation of me is permanent.
• GOD’s declaration that I am saved is final.
• GOD’s decree of my salvation is everlastingly written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

“No one can pluck you from MY hand” is what GOD says to me, not even myself. GOD’s declarations are eternal. I do not have to wait on anything else to happen. JESUS has already been raised from the dead. My belief in HIM through the measure of faith HE has provided me is all I need.

• Do you feel that following GOD is difficult?
• Do you try really hard to please GOD but feel like a failure?
• Can you stop thinking so lowly of GOD and allow HIM to love you and protect you the way HE wants to?