Revelation 22:17 invites us to drink of the “water of life” in eternity. But only in the here and now can we accept God’s invitation. When this life is over, it will be too late for us to decide that, yes, we would like to enjoy the water of life.
Our “salvation” from sin must be seen from a different perspective. Proposals by the world’s greatest teachers won’t be enough. We need a grace that only God can supply, and it is God who has said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
Life in Christ is a sequence of ever stronger commitments, but all it begins very simply. Whether we say it out loud or not, at baptism our hearts are entering into this pledge: “From this day forward, I will follow Jesus faithfully, so help me God.”
God seeks those who will respond gratefully to the gospel and be eager to live in a reconciled relationship with Him. But if He is to have a people who are His possession, what will their character be like? What kind of heart does the Lord look for?
In the first century when many synagogues claimed to follow Moses, and many persons claimed to be the Messiah. And there may be many churches near you claiming to follow Christ. You’ll want to worship where the Scriptures are followed most closely.
We need to appreciate the essential nature of the local congregation as the Lord designed it, and beyond that, value our connection to “the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17; 5:9) — a relationship bigger than the affairs of our own local assembly.
Confessing our faith is simply a matter of being genuine and authentic. I call it “courageous sincerity.” We are not to hide the truth about who we really are. When questioned — or even threatened — we should be willing to confess our real beliefs.
As Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” Ultimately, there are only two paths available. It’s time to clear up our contradictions. Let’s choose the path that goes where we want to end up.
Sin is no ordinary problem, and its cure will not be ordinary either. Only Jesus Christ, the very embodiment of God Himself, has the power to get rid of the condemned person we used to be and bring to life a new person, fit for eternity with God.
If our present position is that we have said no to Christ, we’re on the side of the enemy. But Christ invites us to change our minds and obey the gospel. He will makes us His friends and treat us as if we had never left the rule of God at all.
