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NewsDay

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If saved, you won’t lose your salvation

Opinion & Analysis
It’s quite striking as a mystery of God that a young lady and gentleman leave their respective families to settle with a new partner as wife and husband. This is a celebration of love and trust.

It’s quite striking as a mystery of God that a young lady and gentleman leave their respective families to settle with a new partner as wife and husband. This is a celebration of love and trust. Someone, say, 25 years old, decides to start a new family with someone they will live with for maybe three times these number of years. They don’t even have an assurance that when they sleep side by side snoring, the other one won’t strangle them. At least we have proof that their parents mean well because they could have aborted the pregnancy. They had the space to poison the food as the children were toddlers. However, they were faithful, trustworthy and responsible.

DEVOTION: Erasmus Makarimayi

Isn’t it puzzling that a “lady of the night” gets picked up by a stranger hopeful that they will be safe?
Isn’t it puzzling that a “lady of the night” gets picked up by a stranger hopeful that they will be safe?

Some men, married for that matter, hook up with a sex worker and put up at a lodge the whole night trusting that they care for their lives. Isn’t it puzzling that a “lady of the night” gets picked up by a stranger hopeful that they will be safe? I do not mean to strike fear in you because in life we always meet strangers and forge new relationships. However, you can see that surely there is a higher trustworthy power that is sincere and able to protect and defend people. Moses concludes in Psalm 90:1: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” God is our dwelling place, habitation and safety. Remember this is the same Moses who survived in an ark, or basket for simplicity, in the river as a child. Many years later he was in the mountains even in cold nights. He knew who really looked after him, Jehovah El Shaddai, God Almighty.

At human natural level it is easier to rely on and trust tangible things with visible proven record. It sounds alien when we state that if you are born again you will not lose your salvation. You are safer in God than in the arms of a human stranger. God cares and has the capacity. Any believer can be tempted to feel that she/he has lost her/his salvation. Let us look at God’s heart. Scripture is expressly assertive that God is not trying to keep anyone out of heaven. He proved this by loving the world. John 3:16 records: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This verse has been used as memory verse for centuries from childhood or Sunday school, but regrettably has not sunk in as it should. Your salvation is sealed by and in the life of Christ Jesus.

Some misguided husbands beat up their wives and go ahead and sleep on the same bed without fear of retribution. There are also bad apple wives who cheat, but still trust their husbands for provision, protection and defence. Surely when the Gospel presents Jesus as the Saviour, we should believe. We are totally surrendered to Him and not to human beings. You cannot be wrested out of God is grip. We are given confidence by Jesus’ words in John 10:27-30. The passage reads: “[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: [28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one.” If you are not yet born again, please do so for your eternal safety and security. If God promises eternal life and assures us that He keeps that life, why doubt Him?

Many would want to know what happens when they sin. 1 John 1:9 teaches: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God’s grace i.e. His supernatural empowerment to live in line with His presence in us, bearing fruits of the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 10:13 notes: “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” You may feel defeated, but God’s arm is always outstretched. God is love and please always view Him that way. Hebrews 4:16 invites: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” I will sum this up in next instalment.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge. You’re going somewhere.

All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated. Feedback: [email protected] Fellowship with Pastor Makarimayi on Facebook and on www.twitter.com/PEMAKARIMAYI. Telephone +263 712 332 632