FAITH NOT Works

Hey fam!

How you been? It's been a while since I've spoken to you. I hope the days have been treating you well. For me, in these past few days, I've been learning that I truly didn't understand the concept of salvation as much as I thought I did. You might be thinking: "What? How does that even work? Make it make sense." I initially thought the same things you did, but it was at that moment when I truly did not understand it.

You see, when thinking of where my salvation lied, I noticed myself trying to list things I've done to justify my salvation. But you know what I realized? I never mentioned my faith as being the root of my salvation, and because of that, I missed the mark. I dropped the ball, but the beauty of that is that God has been helping me in learning the true meaning of salvation.

These past few weeks, God has been taking me through Romans and Galatians (chapter 3 for both books). Isn't that funny? Maybe it is to just me, but regardless, both passages were telling me the same thing: "You can't earn your salvation through your works. I mean you can try, but you don't want that." You know what that means? You don't have to do a whole laundry list of things to secure your salvation. While this is so simple, this may be hard for a lot of people to register because of the society we live in. We are living in a works-based society, a "dream it, work hard, grind 'til I own it" society, - one that glorifies the idea of doing everything to get what we want. I'm not saying that's bad, but what I am saying is that applying this mentality to salvation is a dangerous place because you may find yourself listing things to demonstrate your salvation. Let me burst your bubble real quick, living with that type of mentality will NEVER allow you to achieve true salvation because you will never be able to do enough to say that you've earned your salvation. You slip up, and you probably don't even realize when you slip up. That counts when you use a works-based mindset for salvation; hear me out, don't set yourself up for failure by embracing this type of mentality for salvation.

I apologize for not providing a definition of this earlier, but this is what salvation is: the protection of harm and consequences for the things you've done. At the end of the day, everyone is going to have to give an account for their actions on earth, and based on the salvation you've been living, this will determine how you'll be held accountable. You know what's been freeing, though? Discovering faith-based salvation. In it, you acknowledge that Jesus took the consequences that you deserved and paid for them with His blood. Call that the ultimate sacrifice. Isn't that LIT? He paid it all for you, even the stuff that you don't even know you're going to do yet. I don't know about you, but that's been wrecking me a lot. It forced me to confront the way I viewed my salvation. Where did it lie: through my actions or through my faith?

Thankfully, God has been revealing to me how much I truly was living a "works based" life without even realizing that. Knowing this now allows me to truly embrace what Jesus did for me and walk in that newly found freedom of not having to work so hard to earn my salvation because it is secured through my faith. That's it.

Imagine what it would look like if you embraced a faith based salvation. Would you still be walking and living the same life you currently are living? My hope is that you wouldn't. I hope that you live differently as a result of this newfound knowledge. With that being said, I want to wrap this up by saying a quick prayer for those reading this.

"Father, thank you for being a God who exposes things we have become blind to. Lord, thank you for the work Jesus did for us at the cross, and I pray that we are finally able to embrace the freedom that comes from knowing that we cannot work to earn salvation. God, I pray that those who may be struggling with this concept can seek You out for some answers and that You meet with them in the ways they need, like I know You will. Thank you again for Your Word and Your Truth. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, Amen."

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I hope it blessed you! Another thing, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the idea of salvation or anything else I've said, let me know in the comments below or message me privately! I look forward to hearing from you soon! Thank you again!

Bye! :)