Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.
Reading
this single passage from the Scriptures makes it easy to ignore
everything else that was written. Just say outloud that you believe in
Jesus Christ, and that GOD raised Him from the dead, and you're saved.
Simple Huh? Not hardly.
In
this world, seeing is believing. All you have to do to convince anyone
in this world that you believe in anything is to say it aloud or write it down. Just to
turn around and walk in hypocrisy. It does not have to reside in the heart. When Jesus died, the state of man did
not change. He promised us He did not come to change a thing. We still
walk in hypocrisy the same as we did thousands of years ago. The only
difference is that we cannot simply "do things" to see salvation. Our
efforts alone will get us nowhere. But efforts will be made to walk with
Jesus Christ. Do you spot a contradiction in my words?
The
key is to understand the heart. We can only believe with our hearts.
Not our mouths. Our heart has a direct tie to our soul. Our mouth will profess what is in our heart. Whether it
is based on Truth or Lies. And people will not always see the hypocrisy in the words
of others. But GOD always knows. The Spirit will convict you when you
sin.
When
we were told to "believe in thine heart", then that means our whole
LIFE. Because if we believe in something with our heart, it will lead
our life. Just like when someone has it in their heart to become a rock
star, it will lead their life. To destruction no doubt. But
nevertheless, if something fills our whole heart, it will lead us that
way. Just like GOD was in Jesus' heart 100%. He was led that way. He
told us to follow Him.
So
if you stand in a church, and by mouth profess Jesus, then state you
believe in His resurrection with your heart, you are NOT saved. Because
if your life doesn't reflect your words, then you are a LIAR. And this
does not mean trying to do good deeds for the rest of your life. This
means stepping back away from the world and devoting yourself to GOD.
Because anyone who accepts Him in their whole heart WILL have the desire
to hate the world and instead love GOD with everything they have. This
is self denial. This is sacrifice. Not as sacraments or rituals. But as a
result of something. Just like Jesus truly loved the One True GOD. There is a HUGE difference between being around something because you love it versus being around it because you are forced to be.
Jesus is to be our ultimate example. He didn't walk a walk for us to witness, just to contradict it all through "easy believism" that we see in all churches today. He did not die just to tear out a handful of pages from the New Testament. We are to do 100% of what He told us while He was here. He did not toss himself in harm's way for us to do nothing. He lived by the same example we are to live by. And that should NOT be taken lightly.
Now
read the passage again. If you truly believe in your heart that Jesus
was raised from the dead, then you will believe everything else Jesus
told us. And He told us plenty. Primarily to leave the ways of the world
behind and follow Him. Just like the disciples did. To help bring
others into the light of the TRUTH. Not by spending our lives building a
personal fortune. There is no guarantee of a tomorrow. Your belief is where your heart is. Where is your
heart guiding you?