In the last week I’ve had a couple of distinct conversations with individuals about the Christian understanding of “salvation” and the idea of losing it and/or needing to be saved again.
Salvation is the Christian concept that deals with human brokenness. We are broken people in a broken world and, left to ourselves, we get worse – not better. That’s why we can do some pretty crappy things to each other. We’re all broken in some way. Like all broken things, there’s a cost to fix what is broken. The cost to fix human brokenness and return to a right standing before God is a higher price than we could EVER pay.
Enter Jesus.
He comes along and says, “Your brokenness comes with a steep price tag. You can’t afford to pay for it, so I’ll pay it instead.”
That’s what the cross is all about.
Saint Peter once preached:
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
One time when the Apostle Paul and his ministry sidekick Silas were in prison, God shook the foundation of the earth and flung the doors open. The jailer, fearing his own punishment (death) and family shame, was about to kill himself when he thought the prisoners escaped. Paul cries out, “Don’t harm yourself, we’re all here!” The jailer realizes that their God is the true God and asks, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul answers:
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. (Acts 16:31)
No special incantation. No hoops to jump through. Just a belief in the one true God and what He is doing through Jesus.
I don’t want to launch a debate with the once saved always saved crowd, but I don’t think people can “lose” salvation. Salvation is a free gift of God. You can’t lose what he keeps giving. I do believe people can turn their backs and stomp on God’s gift, but you can’t lose it.
If you care about your relationship with God to the point where you ever worry about losing salvation that would indicate to me that you’re not turning your back on him, so I wouldn’t be concerned about “losing” anything. 🙂
God loves you more than you can fathom, and he will not turn his back on you. Even when we go through the darkest parts of life and we FEEL abandoned He still cares. He still walks beside us. You’ve lost nothing, and you can rest easy knowing that He continues to hold you close.
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Chris Linzey 
Thank you for your post. I was a bit concerned with the title and ready to do battle, but you tied it all together nicely.
It’s nice to know God is always with me and I’m assured a place in heaven.
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Now really – have I ever written anything SO controversial that we would have to battle? 😉
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Great post.
God never turns his back on anyone, many turn their backs on Him.
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Thx! 🙂
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While I do not disagree with you doctrinally, I do disagree with the frequency of this message. Here’s why; God’s love and resulting sacrifice is not something to be take lightly. It is so important that mentioning his love/sacrifice/gift of salvation without also mentioning depravity/sin/unholiness with equal vehemence is telling a half truth.
This is not a critique just a thought from a layman.
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I don’t disagree with you about the seriousness of God’s sacrifice and love. The point is that God’s love is great and we don’t have to fear “losing” salvation. Salvation is a free gift of God for those who believe 🙂
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I like to remind myself of the story of the Prodigal Son, who though he turned his back on his father (i.e., God), the father kept his eyes on the horizon, waiting for the son to return. And when the son did finally decide to return, the father ran to him, and welcomed him back. This is God, always looking for His wayward children, hoping they will return to him. All we have to do is believe. Thanks for the reminder.
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One of my favorite parables!
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The only time God turned His back on a man was at the crucifixion of Christ, but it wasn’t just the Son of Man.
He turned away from the near infinite sin of the whole of humanity, borne by his Son, and turned to you and me to ask, “Do you see what you are worth to me? Do you see what I will do to secure your place with me?”
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Well-said 🙂
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I can see the Father turning his back to the whole of an infinite creation to turn to one, just one of us to say “I’ll burn it all, but I want you. And I’ll kill my own self, the Creator of all that stuff, in order to pay your justice-debt to me.”
It wrecks my heart, the intensity of that Truth.
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