Welcome!

  

I would like to give you a scenario...  Suppose you are watching the news one morning just before you leave for work.  Suddenly a news-flash comes across the screen!  

"The So And So bridge that just happens to be on the route you take to work has collapsed!  No barriers have yet been erected barring access to the bridge, so do not attempt to drive across or you will meet certain destruction!"

 Now, you know this news agency to be reputable. Their traffic report has always been spot-on, saving you from many a traffic jam and damage to your car due to potholes etc.  You are, at least in most peoples estimation a sane person.  So my question to you is: 

"Do you try to drive across the bridge anyway, or find an alternate route?"

It boils down to one thing; do you really believe that the bridge is out?  We can say we believe that the bridge is out all day long, but if we try to drive across it anyway, barring some mental disorder, we really didn't believe.  

I came to realize that I was still trying to get to that bridge even though I had convinced myself that I was on the alternate route.   If I truly believed what I said I believed, or even thought I believed, then I wouldn't have made the route choices I did.

To put it in spiritual terms, if I really believed this; 

     I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

         the Maker of heaven and earth,

 and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

    born of the virgin Mary,

    suffered under Pontius Pilate,

    was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,

    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

    he shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

    the holy catholic church;

    the communion of saints;

    the forgiveness of sins;

    the resurrection of the body;

    and the life everlasting.

Then my actions would show it...  If I really believed that my actions could land me in hell, I would have behaved differently.  I am not going to go into the whole "once saved always saved" thing.  I believe in predestination and the election of the saints.  If we are predestined and elected then at some point we have to choose to act like it.  We have to accept the Lordship of Christ.  We have to start acting like we are saved.  Basically what I am saying is that

Today I choose to act like it!