"because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 ESV
Paul makes salvation sound so easy: confess and believe. That's all there is to it. How hard can that be? As we all know, the simplest things are sometimes the most difficult. As humans, we struggle with belief; our default mode is doubt. In doubt, there is less chance of hurt. If we choose to believe, we might be proved wrong. We also wrestle with acceptance and obedience; our comfort zone is to control. In accepting, we give up some of ourselves and relinquish control.
Before we can confess that Jesus is Lord, we must first make him our Lord. And to make Jesus our Lord, we must first accept that it is true. We must believe everything about Jesus. He is God's son, the heir of David, and the Messiah. He was born of the virgin Mary, lived sinlessly as a mortal man, taught, performed miracles, and died for us. Once we believe, then we can accept that Jesus reigns in our hearts. We are His servants, and He is our Lord.
We must also believe in our hearts that not only did Jesus live and die, but God raised him from the dead. Sure, some people die for a few minutes and are brought back to life, but they die again in the end. Jesus still lives! At this very moment, Jesus is alive! He died for our transgressions, but in conquering death, he gave us salvation. In this selfless act, he offers us eternal life.
God, we give you thanks for your sinless Son, who died for us. We openly confess Jesus is Lord. He is the Lord of our lives. We believe you raised Him from the dead, and he lives still. We give thanks for your salvation. Lord Jesus, be with us today and help us as we strive to be your faithful servants. Amen.
Blessings!
Pastor Tim
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