Today’s reading: John 6:22-71
There’s a lot to take in and consider in John 6:22-71, so we’re going to spend one more day here before taking a break from John for Thanksgiving weekend and moving on to John 7 next week. Each time I’ve read this passage over the past few days, Jesus’s statements about the permanency of salvation have come across loud and clear to me. Several times and in several different ways, Jesus makes it clear that once we make the decision to receive Him as our Savior, we are forever saved and will spend eternity in heaven.
“‘All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever… This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever‘” (vs. 37-39, 51, 58, emphasis added).
Making the decision to follow Christ doesn’t mean that we won’t mess things up from time to time or that we’ll live without committing sin and having setbacks. We’re human. The beauty of God’s plan of salvation is that it’s all about unconditional love and grace which He freely extends to us, and therefore, living perfectly isn’t a requirement. We’re all a work in progress. God does, however, want us to continually grow spiritually which means we’ll sin less and less, but when we do falter and sin–and we will–He doesn’t penalize us by withdrawing or taking away His love and salvation. If we’ve made a genuine decision to turn our lives over to God by receiving Jesus as our Savior, we are saved for eternity.
How does knowing that salvation is permanent and that you cannot be separated from God and His love and grace give you comfort today? Tami
Source: Tami’s Blog
