Is it possible to lose your salvation?

Uh oh.  Here it comes, right?

For whatever reason this is one of those questions people like to argue about.  I have my opinions, but I think it's one of those questions that has bigger issues underneath it that need to be addressed first.  That is, instead of knee-jerk answering the question, sometimes you need to take a step back and say, "Wait a minute.  Why are you asking?"

A lot of times when people (including myself) ask this question it contains a note of, "Is it possible that I just lost my salvation?"

The short answer, no.   If you were that far from caring about the things of God, you wouldn't even be worried about such things.  It's the people that think they've got it all together and can do no wrong that who are the ones that should be worried (yet aren't).

A Bible passage that I've been obsessed with lately (and sparked the idea for this post) is Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. [...]

 Having a right view of yourself, as somebody unworthy of salvation is THE WHOLE POINT!

But there's one more side to this.  Usually people don't just pull this sort of thing out of a hat.  There is usually some reason behind it.  Some sin, present or past, haunting them.

Guilt like that is not necessarily a bad thing.  It's intended as a warning, like a "check engine" light.  If you've got something going on like that, guilt is telling you, "Hey you!  You need to deal with this!"

Remember 1 John 1:9 is key to it all.  Repent, and be forgiven.  It's a promise!

"But I've already done that", you may say.  If so, then it's over.  Let it go. (No I won't sing.)

Any guilt after the point that the sin has been dealt with amounts to nothing but useless clinging to the past.  Your bucket is empty.  "Jesus paid it all.  All to him I owe.  Sin has left a crimson stain.  He washed it white as snow." (Okay.  I lied.  Maybe I will sing.)

(I'll sing that one... a lot!)


Live YOUR adventure!
-E.L. Fletcher