Once and Forever

So, you have believed in Jesus but have fallen away. You don't go to church. You don't pray. You sin continually. Are you going to heaven? The answer may surprise you.

I am reading through the Old Testament right now. Each time I read through it I am reminded of myself. God calls Israel, God's chosen nation, a stiff-necked people. Israel keeps turning away from God. They continue to sin. God punishes them, as a father punishes his child, until they repent and return in obedience to God.

This process goes on and on and on throughout the Bible.

If I am honest, I too am stiff-necked. I keep turning away from God and I keep sinning. Even though God doesn't want me to. I am disobedient.

You and I are natural born sinners. Everybody has to be good at something, right? Sin is our thing. It's what we do best. It all depends on who is more important to us in our hearts. Ourselves or God.

The Bible says that . . .

"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9

So, if I have believed in Jesus - if I have called myself a Christian at some point in my life - am I still a Christian when I sin and wander away from Christ?

The Bible also says that when we place our faith in Christ "we are a new creation. This is an amazing paragraph from the Bible:

"16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin b for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17

So that is the ultimate question. Are you reconciled to God? We can believe in God but still not be reconciled to Him. Even the demons believe in God (James 2:19).

Have we changed? Are we different? Have we repented of our sins? Is Jesus Lord of our lives?

We all will find out one day. In the meantime, Can we lose our salvation? No. The bigger question is, "Have we truly placed our faith in Christ?" What's YOUR answer?

Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
Can I Lose My Salvation? - GotQuestions.org