Being Saved does not mean
1. Living your life the way your "church" family dictates?
2. Never stepping foot into a nightclub?
3. Never having an alcoholic beverage?
4. Living a life free of blemish, fault, blame, or mistakes?
5. Being intolerant of other inabilities to live a life free of
blemish, fault, blame, or mistakes?
6. Being able to recite ad nauseum any passage from any
book of the Bible at any time in order to feel holy in the
presence of others?
7. Praying loudly, publicly, or incessantly for your miracle, for
divine intervention, or for intercedence?
8. Having an elder in the church that is more immersed in holy
life pray on your behalf?
9. Dressing in conservative clothes that hide your figure?
10. Choosing an equally hypocritical mate?
Being saved does not mean that you have to live your life the way your church family says you should. It means that you live your life in submission to the will of God. No man may come to the Father but through the Son, so living to please others who are on the same journey as you is useless. That means that just because your pastor doesn't like your choice of mate does not mean you should love them any less.
Being saved does not mean you must adjudicate all fun from your life. The Bible says that we are to be the salt of the Earth. Salt has flavor! We are to live in the world, but, not be of it. As Christians, we should be able to go anywhere and have the light of God visible in our walk, talk, and countenance. That means even into a nightclub! Imagine that! As a true Christian, we could actually walk into a place that is not church and maintain the sacred Holy bond that we share with Jesus. Living a life that is Christ like doesn't mean that when you are in the presence of those who are not believers that you give up your faith. Our jobs are to glorify Him at all times, even when others may think it inappropriate. So guess what---you can go dancing, it is not a sin.
Being saved does not mean you may never take a drink. Proverbs warns us not to drink in excess because it makes us out to be fools. But, the Bible also says that a little wine is also good for the stomach. So yes, you may have a glass with lunch or dinner. The issue arises for human beings when we do things in excess. Balance is key.
Being saved does not mean that you live a life free of any mistakes. Or that you must surround yourself with those that are so holy that they never make mistakes either. In fact, God made us fallible and therefore human so that we can depend on Him. Our idiosyncrasies and innate ability to make the wrong choice are precisely what we need Him for. Of course, one day we will be perfected in Christ's love, but, until then we are all in this place learning, slipping up, being human. None of us has the right to make any other human being feel ashamed for the pace at which each of us learns---which is primarily what mistakes and failures are---an opportunity to learn.
Being saved does not mean that you are saved because you know how to recite passages in the Bible. Almost everyone knows the words to Michael Jackson's "Beat It". Does that mean we are all pop stars? Learning, reading, and understanding the Bible is essential to applying its tenants in your daily life. But, randomly reciting passages in an attempt to establish spiritual superiority over another is an empty and fruitless attempt at making others believe that we are saved. And can eventually alienate another human being. The word of the Lord will never come back to Him unfulfilled or empty—but—our misuse of His word for our own glorification or gain can be a costly mistake.
Being saved does not mean praying where everyone can hear you. In the Bible, the Lord says that when we pray, we are to go into a room alone and open our hearts to God. We are not to pray incessantly. The Lord hears our petitions. He knows the desires of our hearts. Asking God for the same thing over and over again is to demonstrate that we do not have enough faith to believe he heard us the first time. It also says that we probably don't want to hear the answer he gave us. There are only 3 possible answers: "yes"," no", and "not yet". If the answer is yes, we usually know right away because the Lord will impart a calming peace on us letting us know the prayer is answered favorably. If the answer is no, most of us don't want to hear it and we pray again. If the answer is not yet—most of us don't want to hear that either. We want what we want and we usually want it right away. However, God is the potter and we are the clay. How then can the clay say to the potter, "what will you make me into?' The clay must simply do the job of being clay---not make the decision on the vessel it will become. Many times we will pray for a miracle or for intercedence and not understand that the miracle is the trial that we are undergoing. God has to use something to refine us and what better tool than fire? How else will we become the purest silver than by burning away the impurities? It is always what we fail to recognize that keeps us seeking answers to prayers that are already answered.
Being saved does not mean that you submit your will to that of your elders. Now don't get me wrong, the Bible says that gray hair is the crown of wisdom. So those that are aged should be respected. Their wisdom is definitely a resource that we should tap into. After all, only a fool has to learn everything by his own mistakes rather than learning from the mistakes and experiences of others. But—just being old does not make a person the fast track conduit to God. This, I can attest to personally. Many young believers think that they are not strong enough prayer warriors, that they cannot make the same impact through prayer that an elder who has been praying for 40 years can. But that is not so. God is no respecter of persons. That means that God does not base His love and mercy for you or I on anything that any earthly thing any of us have done. His is the highest love and He loves all of us. So know that each of us can go to Him in prayer. Mother so and so who is older than Methuselah does not have to do it for us. "Boldly approach the throne."
Being saved does not mean that you must wear a nun's habit. Many Christians confuse being holy with looking holy. There is a definite difference. The Bible say to give no thought to what you will wear. That means that if you have nothing but club clothes in your closet but you wake up one morning feeling the call of the Lord on your life and you want to go to church---you should just go. Club clothes and all. Or if you like to dress up in bright colors and jewelry, then do it. God cares more about what is in your temple than what is on it. In that same regard, once the light of the Lord has manifested itself in you---you are bound to glorify His name in all that you do. This includes the way you dress! God gave all men and women each a unique look---an inner beauty. Our job is to tap into that so that we may be a beautiful, honest, and loving representation of God's purpose for the world. For some people that we will mean rocking the freshest hip hop gear, for some people that will mean wearing business suits and dresses. For some still, it will mean wearing an army uniform or an actual nun's habit. Whatever it is, it doesn't have to fit into a mold.
Being saved does not mean that you get with the person in church that appears to be the holiest and then you get saved by association. It doesn't work that way. Each of us must come to Him individually through His son Christ Jesus for our salvation. Sometimes, God will send us a mate that is not saved. Why? Because we may be the light that he or she needs to see how great God's love is. Sometimes, God will send us an unlikely mate---someone that we would never choose for ourselves, but who stretches our realm of thinking to the point that we start to see new possibilities about God. Many times, we as women stipulate to God what type of mate we want. We say that he must be saved, have a good job, be nice looking, have a desire to marry, etc. The truth is that even if God sent us this just as we asked for it---we may be too unappreciative or caught up in our own worlds to appreciate or recognize it. So guess what God does? He sends us real human beings that we must learn to love. He does not send us a fairy tale because that is not based in truth. And as we all know, He is the truth, the Way, and the Light. He sends us someone that will take an eternity to know—because who wants to be so with someone so predictable that we know exactly what they will do or say every hour, of everyday, forever? No, instead God sends us others like ourselves; imperfect human beings. So fooling ourselves into thinking that because a man says he is saved and is a deacon at the church and has a nice house and prays everyday that he must be the husband that God selected for us is yet another waste of time. My only advice on this is that if you don't look at your mate and smile inwardly at the fact that someone can love you so deeply, then maybe you are in the wrong relationship. I am by no means an expert on this….
Just for information nje, its because i agree with all that is stated above.....
Guys please note:::this was forwarded to me by a friend of mine,when she read some of the comments on TVSA on Philiswa's article, she sourced it from somewhere naye and thought it will cause a good debate, she just wants to know your views..... the author is unknown so please dont ask for the author