U1E31@WVNVM (Chuck Yoke) (01/08/90)
It's amazing how we humans continue to look for the easy way out. We want salvation (eternal life) but we don't want to give up anything now for it. But the scriptures repeatedly state that salvation comes not to those who profess Christ with their lips only, but to those who proclaim Christ with their lives. Our Lord said in Luke "Why do you call be Lord, Lord, and not do what I have said." James plainly states the faith without works is dead. Even Paul, whom grace only proponents proclaim, states in Romans 12:20,"If thine enemy hunger, feed him: if he thirst, give him drink..". The grace only proponents of salvation have - as far as I am concerned - missed the boat when it comes to what it meants to accept Christ. To accept Christ, means not just to recognize him as the savior, the Son of God, the Messiah. It means to accept the living Lord INTO YOUR HEART, to let HIM rule your life. To be a follower of Christ means to live your life as Christ lived his, to continue in his path, to reflect him in your daily life. The question every Christian should ask when faced with a situation is "What would Christ do?" for that is what we are to do. If we do not live the Christ life, if we do not let Christ live within us and through us, if our lives do not reflect Christ in this world, then our faith is dead, and as far as I am concerned we have no salvation. Christianity was meant to be more than just another religion with a set of creeds, confessions, doctrines, and dogmas. It was meant to be more than just a prescribed canon. It was meant to be more than a "label". Christianity was meant to be a way of life. A way of life between man and God, and between man and man. A way centered around selfless sacrificial love and peace. When the world comes to recognize and understand this, then Christ will truly be honored.