"What Must I Do To Be Saved?"---Give Up!

"Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.  (Matthew 21:31b, 32a-- NIV)

There is no merit in being, "tax collectors and prostitutes," or vice in being a religious person.  The issue is not what we have been or done, but whom we trust and obey.

Central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the message of Eternal life in Christ is----------- You and I can do absolutely nothing, nada, nichts, to earn salvation.  Go to church services every day and night of the week, pray four hours a day, read through the Bible every month, tithe, do missions, give to the poor, adopt 20 Haitian children.  But if there is any inkling in all of this that these endeavors make you more righteousness, that it causes God to love you more, or you will earn a better place in Heaven------ it is all for naught.  "But," some might protest, "surely all that good stuff must be good for something"-- Maybe, but not for, "entering the kingdom of God," and, "the way of righteousness."  If this is my passion, then, according to our text, the only entrance to "the Kingdom," and, "way of righteousness," is, "repent and believe,"  i.e., change my way of thinking and living, and obey Jesus Christ.

There might be a tendency to read this next verse too quickly since you know it so well, but I advise not.  "I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ...lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."  Now, all I need to do?---------------------------------- give myself up for Him.

Father, in Jesus' Name, deliver me from any work-for-my-salvation religious behavior.  Amen.
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Prophetic News:     www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com 

Eighteen year old Norwegian, Peter Torjesen, "when he heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2