1 Peter 1:10
10Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
This verse used to make me uncomfortable. I would fear that I could lose my salvation. It doesn’t mean that if we stumble, we aren’t christians. Peter would testify to that, as he denied The Lord three times.
Peter’s saying that if we’re christians, then these traits will be part of our lives. If they aren’t, then maybe we not christians. It’s not that we lost it, we never were.
Ok, so what does it mean to be a christian? Romans 10:9 says, “… if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. He is to be our Lord and savior. We are to trust that He’ll cleanse us of our sins and we are to submit to His lordship.
We don’t have to earn it. Simply trust that He paid the price. It’s like walking through a door. By doing so we are putting our trust that He will forgive us. Done.
By going through that door, we have chosen a path. It yields to God. We are to be in His Word and associate with believers. It’s the thing we would want to do. 1 John 5:1 says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.” There will be people in the church that we have a difficult time with. But in general we will love being with other believers.
Bob Dylan said, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be The Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody” (Romans 6:16). Don’t think that serving God takes away our freedom, because without Christ we are slaves to sin and worldly thought. We aren’t free with either choice. It’s better to serve a God who loves us and has wonderful things for us. I Corinthians 2:9 says that the things He has in store for us are so good, we haven’t even imagined them. It may not be the things we would have guessed, but it’s the best for us.
Lord, confirm our salvation. If we aren’t in You, help us to choose You. Start us on Your wonderful path. Let those wonderful traits be part of our lives.