Heartprints

Shaping Abstract Truths To Form A Firm Foundation – #4- Understanding Salvation from a Biblical Perspective

Every religion has a plan of salvation but Christianity unlike other religions is based on a relationship. Religion is about doing but Christianity is about becoming. In the garden Adam and Eve broke the trusting relationship they had with God by their choice to disobey. Did you know it was not a command to do but to not do something that they disobeyed? We are human beings not human doings. God gave them a warning  and they didn’t believe His Word.  Christianity is not about trying to be good; it is all about trusting God's Word.

We need salvation from sin and death. God did not chose to abandon us. God’s plan is big and powerful like God but it is simple enough for even a small child to understand and believe.

Jesus expected children to believe.  “He called a child, had him stand among them,  and said, ‘ . . . But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea.’” Matthew 18:2,3a, &6 NET Bible

Romans 10:14 teaches that no one believes without hearing. So what is it children need to hear?

1.       We have a sin problem. God’s perfectly good and we are not. God hates sin because it’s evil, it hurts us, and separates us from Him and from each other.  Rom. 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(NET Bible).  God made Adam and Eve full of light and goodness but the sin in the garden changed us all forever. The darkness of sin puts a shadow over every good thing we try to do. Sin is breaking God’s good laws and demands a punishment. We deserve that punishment.

2.       Jesus took our punishment when He died on the cross. At Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ birth. He came to take the punishment of sin. Only God who never sins could do what needed to be done. He loved us enough to do it.

3.       Death could not hold Him in the grave because He’s God. At Easter we remember His death and burial but we celebrate that He didn’t stay dead. He won the victory over sin and death.

4.       God wants to join His Spirit with ours forever. Jesus did all that needs to be done for us to be saved. But, we aren’t saved until we put our trust in what He did for us.  Trust is like a key that opens our hearts. When we welcome Him to live inside our body house with us we are trusting that God alone can make us what He intended us to be. Our trust in Him opens the way for God the Holy Spirit to come to make His home in our hearts. God always keeps His promises.

 “. . . He has said, “I will never leave you and I will never abandon you.” Heb. 3:5b (NET Bible)

When I was 6 I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to come live inside me. He promised He would and He did. For the last 53 years He has never once failed to be my best friend, comfort me in times of trouble, and be with me 24/7. He is faithful.

 

 

 

Suzi Ciliberti works for Christar, a Missions Agency that plants churches among least-reached Asians worldwide. She served in Japan for two years as a single missionary and another nine with her husband and two children, then the family returned to the states. She and her husband have been serving in the US Mobilization Center since 2000. As a part of the Member Care Department, Suzi is consultant to families with children. She has been working as a children’s teacher since she was 17 and began her training under Child Evangelism Fellowship. She has taught in the church, as a school teacher for two years in a Christian elementary school, and as a speaker for adults training to work with children. She has also trained children, who are a part of families that work overseas, in their identity in Christ. She brings 44 years of teaching experience to her work. She loves creative writing as well as teaching and has found great fulfillment in combining the two as she blogs for Heartprints. She finds it a great privilege and joy to serve the Lord and His people. One of her favorite verses is Deuteronomy 4:10b, "Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children."