When God calls a man to salvation, He calls him into an intimate relationship that thrives on faithfulness and continued devotion. Being infinitely holy Himself, He expects anyone who seeks to have an enduring relationship with Him to desist from all works of darkness and continually walk in the light; to honour Him daily and sincerely seek to please Him; to believe, accept and abide by the precepts of His word; to make righteousness a way of life; and most importantly, to remain in the hope of heaven by earnestly longing for the second coming of Christ. In summary, it is to live the victorious Christian life.
Now living this victorious life requires the believer to constantly examine himself-his thoughts, words, actions, motives, interactions-in the mirror of Gods word. 2 Corinthians 13 : 5 admonishes, ‘Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ;prove your own selves .Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you ,except ye be reprobates?’’.If you profess to be saved from sin, then you must examine yourself and ascertain that your salvation is a present reality and not a past glory. You cannot live the victorious life that God purposed for you by relying on a stale, badly-tarnished testimony of a relationship with Christ or by parading a faith that is no longer active or viable. You must live daily with the assurance that should Christ return suddenly or that death strike, you will be with the LORD in heaven.
The standard of God for the truly heaven-bound believer is to have the nature of Christ. To live as He lived. 1 John 2 : 6 says ‘’He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself to work, even as He walked .’’To walk as Christ walked is, among other things, not having to struggle with besetting sins. It is to be free from pride, covetousness, worldliness, materialism, impatience and lust. It is to be free from moderate and temperate in all things – not engaging in gluttony, talkativeness, time -wastage and not looking down on others or slandering them. It is to desist from half – truth and exaggeration; it is to habitually practise righteousness rather than indulging in sin and promising to repent later.
The experience of salvation is not only obtained but also maintained by absolute submission to the lordship of Christ. You were made a new creature when you yielded your all to Christ, and you must keep abiding in Him to continue to enjoy His presence. The scripture warns in 1 Corinthians 10 : 12,’’Wherefore,let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’’. There would not have been need for this warning if it were not possible for us to be cut off from God after we were saved. The greatest saint can only stand as long as he can depend on Christ and continue in obedience to the word of God.
Examine yourself today, because God will be more severe with religious sinners than He was with Sodom and Gomorrah(Luke 10 : 12 - 14).He will not excuse anyone who holds the truth of His word in unrighteousness or uses His grace as a licence to continue sinning. Present your heart and life before the x-ray of His word now; take a break from the flurry of activities (whether secular or religious) that surround you and find out if you are still fully at peace and in tune with your God. Isaiah 55: 6 – 7;’’seek ye the Lord while He may be found ,call ye upon him while he is near:let the wicked forsake his way,and the unrighteous man his thoughts:and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ;and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon’’.
