Yes, you read the title correctly, Selfish Salvation. It is your salvation and it shouldn’t be compromised for anyone, including spouses, children, friends, or pastoral leadership. Your salvation is a gift from God and He does not take salvation away from us, we hand it over when we give in to sin.
Has there ever been a time in your life when someone you loved dearly wanted you to do something that you knew went against the Will of God? For me, there was a time I was asked to lie about something. I lied for what I thought was the greater good. Later I realized just how much that lie hurt someone and that thing tore me up inside. Your thing may not be lying but what if it is sex outside of marriage, stealing time from work, or forging documents? These things affect your salvation.
There has got to be a point in your life when you get selfish with your salvation and say later for all of those shenanigans because living and dying for God is way too important.
I have ministered to young ladies who talk to me about their struggles where they are living right for God but it is hard to be alone and not have sex while their single. I ask them, why lose the greatest thing that has ever been given to you? Our salvation was bought with the price of Jesus’s death and we trivialize that with our fleshly needs and desires.
Don’t get me wrong, because I am no saint. I had my first child out of wedlock and had struggles way before then and after. However, once I gained an understanding of the value of my salvation and how God has prepared a place for me in Paradise, I have decided that I have got to be selfish with my salvation. I had to stop allowing people to convenience me that it was ok to compromise. Seriously, I had someone tell me it was okay for us to have sex before we got married because we were going to be married eventually. That is not what God’s instructions to us our in regards to sex. I knew better but for some reason it sounded right, and I was so in love (lust) that I gave in. I fell for the okie doke, but what did it cost me?
Culturally sex outside of marriage is acceptable. It is all in the music, television, and the movies. However, the Bible tells us we are not to conform to it. I love how it is stated in the Message Bible, Romans 12:2 “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Your salvation should be hands off; you can’t touch this kind of salvation. Tell sin, sike, it’s mine and keep your hands off it. Let those around you know to stop trying to tempt you and persuade you that the Father will understand your sins. Yes, He offers us grace and mercy but why intentionally put your salvation in jeopardy?
What I have learned about salvation is you cannot share your salvation with anger, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, adultery, fornication, or any other sin. You have to have selfish salvation in order to fully serve God and to reap His promises. So stop handing your salvation over and maintain it by selfishly keeping it from sin.
Meet the Contributor
Deborah Woolard is a single mother of three from Raleigh, NC and she currently resides in Charlotte, NC. She is an ordained & licensed minister and she serves as the Youth Director at R5 Church. Her love for writing, especially poetry is one of the many ways God allows her to use her gifts for His glory. Her poetry can be viewed at https://m.facebook.com/gracefullydsignedbydeborah/.