It is our choice whether we continue to be separated from God or if we have our relationships restored. We have to choose to accept the Plan of Salvation. This daily devotional reviews our response to the Plan of Salvation and the rewards for making that choice.
Devotions in the Self-Discipline Review series
All year, we’ve been looking at self-discipline. We looked at self-discipline as the operational plan for self-control because it talked about improvement.
We are reviewing everything and hopefully putting all of the building blocks together. What I am doing is going through all of the devotions for the year and pulling out the nuggets.
I am formatting this as a glossary page. If I already have one, I will combine them later.
God knew before He created us that we would be disobedient. If we weren’t going to be disobedient, He wouldn’t have “… already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ …” (Eph. 1: 4 GNT).
If we had been good boys and girls and always been obedient, Christ would not have had to pay the penalty for our sins. We weren’t — He did.
It has always been about obedience and disobedience. God was ready for the disobedience. Oh, yeah. He could have squashed that bug real fast. But He didn’t. He let it play out because He had the Plan of Salvation set in stone.
God was always going to have Jesus save us. It wasn’t based on anything we did — or didn’t do. Remember, we were not created yet (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Obedience?).
Our Response to the Plan of Salvation
- We can’t wait until Jesus returns, and then think we will accept the gift of salvation. It will be too late then. We have to prepare now (Is God Really in Control Right Now?).
- Salvation starts internally, but then it moves externally. If we don’t confess, we don’t have the faith; if we don’t have the faith, we don’t have the salvation (Salvation in a Nutshell).
- We have to work out our salvation. Getting us to change to be more like God isn’t flipping a switch (Evidence of Election).
- Salvation is free to us. We can’t buy it or earn it (What Is Election?).
- No, we don’t need to be law perfect for salvation. We are accepted by God because Jesus paid the price for our sins (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Wisdom?).
- Working out our salvation will not be an easy undertaking. The only way we are going to succeed is through diligence (What Is Diligence?).
- No, works aren’t needed for salvation. Works are needed for obedience after salvation (What Is Diligence?).
- Yes, God calls us and the Holy Spirit convicts us to salvation. But we have to choose to search for Him (Is Repentance Necessary?)
- God’s Word leads to salvation. So, we have to hear God’s Word, read it, believe it, and let it change us. We have to choose it (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
- We are on our way to being made holy, sanctified, and righteous when we realize how much we need God. Our most important need from Him is for gift of salvation. We admit our sins, believe Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord (Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?).
- It is right for us to transform ourselves to be holy. We do it out of gratitude for salvation (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness?).
- What some don’t think about is that salvation is a process. Yes, there is the initial you-are-now-saved-so-you-are-spiritually-alive point. Sometimes, we don’t focus as much on the work-out-your-salvation command. Well, that does make it harder. Because it makes it …….. work. We aren’t going to be totally perfect until heaven. But we have to practice now — you know, practice makes perfect (What Is Sin?).
- We do have to build our characters in the ways God wants. That is a decision we need to make at conversion and grow into along the walk. Salvation has to make a difference in our lives (Characteristics of Disciples’ Lives).
- Our actions have to back up our words. If we say we are truthful, we have to be truthful. If we say we love our neighbors, we have to love the one that is different from us. It comes down to — we have to live out our salvation (Characteristics of Disciples’ Lives).
- Our desires are still within us after conversion. Dealing with them is working out our salvation (The Battle between Flesh and Spirit).
- No, we won’t be perfect. We will still sin even after conversion. So, we have to keep asking God to forgive us of our sins. Yes, God is that forgiving. Well, He did design the plan of salvation, didn’t He? He designed it long before Adam and Eve had sinned, didn’t he? Ephesians 1: 4 says so. There is only one sin God won’t forgive. That is when we grieve the Holy Spirit. We do that by not ABCDing (Sins against God).
- Peter wrote II Peter 1: 5-7 a progression — we have A, add B. Repeat. We can look at these two ways. This is how we work out our salvation and go through the process of sanctification (Goodness as a Virtue).
- We don’t need works for salvation. However, works show that we have been and are being sanctified (What Does Charity Mean?)
- Paul specifically wanted his readers to remember the time before salvation to contrast “without Christ” to “in Christ.” Everybody had been in the same unredeemed boat as, in the spiritual sense, we are all uncircumcised Gentiles. However, when we are “in Christ,” sin no longer has a hold on us. Yes, Jesus is in us. He is in our hearts after we have asked Him to be our Savior. He is to be our life (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Wisdom?).
- The Word of God is the only weapon of attack in the armor of God. Only God’s Word will be victorious. We can’t rewrite scripture and expect salvation. God’s way is the only way available (The Holy Spirit within Us).
- Peter is, in II Peter 1: 10, talking about having assurance of salvation. There are times, isn’t there, when we really question our salvation. That is Satan working overtime on us. He wants to keep us off balance in our relationships with God. That way he can worm his way in better and derail us (Evidence of Election).
- The Bible was designed by God to be a teaching book. It is divided into books, chapters, and verses for our ease. (No, the original did not have our system of division.) It teaches us the Plan of Salvation and the justification needed for us to believe. No, its purpose is not to tell us how the earth was created. Its purpose is to introduce us to the Creator and His plan to restore our relationship with Him. It tells us of His grace and love (How Do We Profit from Scriptures?).
- Haven’t you heard of some worldview people argue that they live a more Christian life than disciples do? But it isn’t about just living right. Yes, we do have to follow all of God’s laws and commandments after salvation. If we could do live a life doing all the do’s and not doing any of the don’ts, than Jesus would not have had to die for us. But we can’t do that. We need a Savior (How Do We Profit from Scriptures?).
- Our salvation is personal. We can’t hook onto our parents’ salvation. We have to make the decision to admit our sins, believe on Jesus as our Savior and confess God as our Sovereign Lord on our own (Kindness and Love as Virtues).
- We get so caught up in God’s laws and commandments. We — and worldview people — get the mistaken notion that we have to 100% perfect in doing all the do’s and not doing any of the don’ts. Problem is, we can’t do that. If we were able to follow God’s law, we wouldn’t need a Savior. We can’t, so we do. That lowers the priority of obedience. No, it doesn’t take it off the table, but we don’t need law obedience for salvation (Why Jesus Became a Man).
- All we do should have one purpose — working out our salvation so that we become mature disciples. We are going to need to discipline ourselves so that we don’t give up (How Does Perseverance Help Consistency?).
- When we accepted salvation, we were justified, so being spiritually dead and separated from God were fixed (Is Peace an Attitude?).
- We have to be cautious, though. We can’t start thinking that our faith is our righteousness. We don’t want to make our faith a work. True, Matthew 25: 31-46 says there has to be evidence of faith. We have to be careful and not think those acts justify us. Belief gets us salvation. Faith produces works that are the result of our obedience. In turn, those works show our faith to others (How the Righteousness of God Filters to Us).
Rewards of Salvation
- What do we gain by following God and keeping His laws and commandments? Salvation, eternal life, God’s grace, and God’s mercy (How Did Moses Say Goodbye?).
- God developed the Plan of Salvation because of His grace (How Do We Benefit from Being God’s People?).
- When we admit our sins, believe on Jesus as Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord, we are forgiven of our sins. We don’t have to clean up our acts before God forgives us. That comes after when we are working out our salvation (How Do We Benefit from Being God’s People?).
- We know this earth is going to end one day. It isn’t going to be because of something we have or haven’t done. This earth will end because God’s Plan of Salvation will be complete. A new heaven and new earth will take its place. Somewhere here is where we are going to be. Where we will be is with God (How Are Disciples Humble?).
- God’s gift of salvation far outweighs the judgment disciples will receive. The judgment non-believers will receive will be horrific (God’s Judgment of Sin).
Salvation and Churchy Words
- Believing in a God that we cannot see takes a lot of faith, trust, and belief.
- Election is that God chose to accomplish the plan of salvation to restore His people (What Is Election?).
- Election is where God chooses us, but we have to choose Him back to become the elect. If we don’t choose God, we don’t get the gift of salvation (What Is Election?).
- Election means that, through His grace, God is going to offer us the gift of salvation. The purpose of salvation is to make us Holy and righteous (Did Election Fail?).
- The elect are only those who have been forgiven of their sins. We only become the elect once we admit our sins, believe in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord. Then, we are given the gift of salvation (What Is Election?).
- Faith is what secures our salvation (Faith as a Virtue).
- We have joy because we have salvation. This has given us peace, joy, and hope for today, tomorrow, and eternity (What Are the Fruits of Righteousness?).
- Prayer is very important. It is how we access God to accept the gift of salvation (What Is Prayer?).
- When we choose to admit our sins, believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as our Sovereign Lord, we are redeemed and regenerated. But then we have to figure out what this salvation is all about. Paul called it working out our salvation (Phil. 2: 12) (What Is Diligence?).
- There is whole continuum between salvation and us being like Him. It is called sanctification. Children of God need to be imitators of Him. That means obeying His laws and commandments, because that is how we learn His character (Aren’t We All Children of God?).
Gracious Lord. You designed the Plan of Salvation. We humbly submit to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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