SALVATION: HOW SWEET A GIFT, FREE BUT NOT CHEAP.

PASSOVER: The great feast of Passover representing the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ starts this year at sundown on Friday, April 19th and goes to sundown Saturday April 27th.

Salvation: What a sweet indescribable gift from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by way of faith. However, I believe that the gift of salvation, as simple as it is, has been cheapened and watered down through the traditions of man.

The sweet, precious gift of salvation of our Lord has been belittled and corrupted by the church to an act of praying a simple prayer. Prayers to do save people. Our Lord Jesus Christ saves people. Millions of people pray many times a day from many different religions and to many different gods.

I remember being lost in the woods when I was younger. What a strange and frightful feeling. I remember almost drowning twice as a teenager. I almost drown in a river at the age of 15 and then again at the age of 17. Again I repeat it is a frightful experience when you see your life slipping away. Twice I lay on operating tables in hospitals when my heart stopped, once at the age of 25 and again at the age of 52.

In all of these situations there was awareness on my part that I was in need of life-saving assistance and in each situation someone came to my rescue. I could not have my life protected unless I realized that I was in danger of dying and someone outside of me was going to help me.

The same is with the gift of salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ. I must realize that I am lost and cannot save myself before I can truly exercise faith to receive God’s salvation. We need to move away from the “easy believe-ism doctrine” that has cheapened the gift of God and the work of the cross. We really need to have a thirst for God and His righteousness to be filled.

As an example we see this desperation in Ps.42:1-2. The Hebrew word for “panteth” means to “cry out” and to “long for”. The word “thirsteth” means to “suffer thirst”.

Ps.42:1-2 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. [2] My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

When we thirst for the Lord, we come to Him to get what we do not deserve, cannot earn, and cannot purchase. We should know that the things which are really important are not food, drink, and the clothes we have. The Kingdom of God is not made up of these things. This is important because there are those who try to come to the Lord to fix or improve their social, economic, or relational status and these things are not of the kingdom of God.

Salvation, a free gift from the Father, but it is not cheap!