We throw the word around, unsure of what it fully means. You would think we would get it exact because what is at stake is eternal. When we land on an interpretation of this doctrine and preach it if we get it wrong or change it or make it simpler then there is the gravity of eternity in hell at stake. Our Father is unchanging. He will not make exceptions for our incorrect teachings.
In Matthew and Luke Jesus gives us a series of parables that essentially end with some who spend eternity with Him and some who are given to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. A Closer look shows us that Jesus is not talking about unbelievers versus believers in a modern sense but rather these Parables talk about "believers" only. These are parables of those who knew the master, but tired of waiting for his return, acted unjustly when he wasn't looking, ran out of spirit, mismanaged his money or wore the wrong clothes. At the heart of each parable is the simplicity that these "believers" didn't know the master's heart or his ways. And because of this they were not followers. At the heart level they remained unchanged even after spending time with the master. They did not have a conversion.
These parables are very real warnings that there is more to our salvation than believing in Jesus. In our context belief means very little. I believe in the stars in the sky and I believe that the sun is out there and we rotate around it. It is time we moved away from selling belief in Him and it is time we started declaring His worthiness and holiness. It is time we started telling of His greatness. He is the mighty God who saves. He is Holy and He is worthy of all praise. He will destroy everything that does not declare this truth.
For many there is the great truth that in their "salvation" they have exchanged one idol for another. They have moved from believing that hard work and long hours will bring them worldly success to believing that Jesus will do this. They are no different than those who believed golden calves would bring good fortune. Those who worshiped golden calves didn't believe the golden calves were mighty or holy they just thought it would bring them more food or children or wealth. If our belief in Jesus is such that He becomes the thing that will get us to a better place we have just created a new idol, a new golden calf. Jesus did not die so we could avoid hell and have a better day. He died so that the Father would be glorified. It is time we understood that we are here to glorify the Father. Our salvation is so that He might be glorified through our transformation. It is for Him. It is His way. He will be glorified. This is the eternal truth of the Father. He will be glorified and there are many ways in which He will do this and until we understand this we are hopelessly lost. We need revelation on this truth. We live so that He will be glorified. Evidence of a life given to Him is in the way we live. And we are not talking about the things we do, or the way we conduct ourselves (these are important things). But the real truth of our conversion is that we die daily to our desires and live to His. We live to bring Him glory not ourselves. We must embrace His ways. And before we can embrace His ways we have to know Him for real.We need to get out of the business of selling fire insurance and we need to get into the business of glorifying the Father.
Why do you want to give your life to Christ? The answer is that He is God and He is holy and He is worthy of all our praise. When we sell the wrong Jesus we run the very real risk that those who have signed up will be turned away when Jesus says I never knew you. (Matt 7:23)
