Can I Lose My Salvation?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
By Shane Idleman
 
A common question for many is, "Can I lose my salvation?" I've heard both sides of the argument, and only God truly knows a person's heart, but I can share a few thoughts. One thing is for certain: salvation is a gift from God that cannot be earned.
One school of thought suggests that salvation cannot be lost, as in losing your car keys, but that it can be left, as in walking away from it. This may be why Jesus spoke of the man who said in his "heart": my master delays His coming; therefore, I will turn from living a godly life. When the master returned unexpectedly, the servant was banished because he chose to turn from what he knew to be right. In another passage, Jesus said, "You have left your first love," when speaking to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:4). James 5:19-20 adds, if anyone wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, a soul is saved from death. If anything, these Scriptures, and many more, reinforce the fact that we have certain responsibilities. We should never turn from what we know to be right. Jesus encouraged His followers to be watchful, prepared, and ready for His return. Are we watchful? Are we prepared? Are we ready? You don't want to live your life with a question mark here. (Read Matthew 24:45-51; Luke 21:34.)
The other school of thought suggests that some of those passages are dealing with people who never fully surrendered to Christ. As a result, they fell away. They heard the gospel, but never fully embraced it and turned from their sins; they only had "intellectual" knowledge of salvation. According to this view, the real question isn't, "Can a person lose their salvation?" but, "Was the person really saved to begin with?" Titus 1:16 and James 2:14 both conclude that many people "say" that they know God, but deny Him by their lifestyle. I John 2:19 suggests that those who acknowledge Christ initially, but deny Him later, are not saved to begin with: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us."
We all sin and fall short, but the important question to ask is what is the condition of your heart-have you truly repented and trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, or are you trusting in religion and tradition? This may be why Paul said in II Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?" Our actions do reveal a great deal about our relationship with Christ. A.W. Tozer said: "When people find that after being in the church for years they are not making much progress, they ought to examine themselves and wonder whether they have been truly converted." He added: "True conversion means radical repentance, a changed life, conscious forgiveness of sin, and a spiritual rebirth." Hebrews 3:13 warns us not to "be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Has your heart become so hard as to reject Jesus Christ? If so, you can change that today. I'm aware that I'm driving this point home, but I'd rather err on the side of speaking too much about a committed relationship with Jesus than too little.
As a word of encouragement to those who are struggling, consider this comparison that I heard. A pig and a lamb both find their way to the mud. The mud represents the sin that we all fall into from time to time. The pig wallows in and enjoys the mud, and may even lead others in; the lamb hates its condition and cries out. That's the difference: do you continually return and enjoy wallowing in sin, or do you regret and hate your condition when you slip in? The person who has made sin a lifestyle enjoys the sin; a follower of Christ regrets it, does what he or she can to avoid it, and cries out for forgiveness when stuck. It's not about perfection but direction.
Although we've discussed personal choices and things we can do, we cannot forget the fact that we don't choose God as if He's sitting in heaven waiting to be chosen. He chooses us. He invites us. He calls us. In John 6:44 Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." Charles Spurgeon said, "Men do not seek God first; God seeks them first; and if any of you are seeking him today it is because he has first sought you." The relationship between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is interwoven throughout the Scriptures. Our responsibility is to repent and to believe, and to live a life that reflects that decision. "God's law will not save me, but it can instruct, warn, and guide me" (J.I. Packer).
Granted, life will seem unclear and confusing at times, but God promises that He will guide you. Had I become angry and unwilling to change my rebellious attitude toward God, only the Lord knows where I'd be today. Don't let discouragement and failure stand in your way. I could write an entire book on my failures, but instead, I strive to follow the apostle Paul's advice and I encourage you to do the same: forget about those things that are behind you. Instead reach forward to those things that are ahead of you (Philippians 3:13). Forget your past mistakes, but remember the lessons learned because of them.
This excerpt was taken from What Works for Young Adults-Solid Choices In Unstable Times, © 2007 by El Paseo Publications (www.elpaseopublications.com); Shaneidleman@roadrunner.com.