Salvation in Sight

 My family and I have been worried about the state of my mother's soul.  Will she join our Heavenly Redeemer or not.  I have been exposed to a lot of theology around this subject.  I'm not one who believes in "Once save, always Saved." But neither am I inclined to quickly condemn anyone to hell based on what I have seen or heard them say.  God is a merciful God and only He can know the state of her salvation.  

I know that my mother was raised in the Church of England, and if it's services are anything like Catholic services, the message of Salvation is repeated again and again.  I know that she made a "death-bed" confession to one of my nieces, but I have seen little since then to be convinced that it took.  But who can know the state of one's heart? I know that my sister-in-law along with one of her daughters pressed her for a confession of faith recently without success.

Now my theology makes room for a God's whose ways are not the ways of men; a God who desires that all will come to the saving knowledge of Him.  I know that in the past my mother was rough handled by some members of my father's family, which left a bad taste in her mouth.  She has carried this resentment most of her adult life.  I have had more than a few conversations about Hell and Heaven with her..  

I don't believe that Salvation is something you talk people into.  I believe in the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin and Salvation that they might repent upon hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ.  We can pray for people, we can discuss these matters with people but it is God's sovereign will to Save or not.  It cannot be reduced to a mere decision.  Salvation is too wondrous and too Holy to be confined to the workings of the human psyche or decision making.

Additionally there are scriptures that few deal with.  One, that a woman is saved through childbirth (2 Tim 2:15)`.  Quite frankly I don't know what to make of that scripture, but it is written, so how can I deny it.  Second, it says that if a person is saved, their whole household is saved (1 Cor. 7:14, Acts 16:31).  I am standing on that promise.  I am the head of this household, and both my wife and I have received that salvation and been baptised in water and the Holy Spirit.  We know that we know that we have received the precious gift of God's Salvation in Christ Jesus and seen the fruit of that Salvation in our lives.  So I will stand on the promise that all in my household are Saved in Jesus Name.

I would have prefered that my mother would have received the fullness of said Salvation.  She still holds onto old grudges and grievances.  I pray that all those are falling away now in her final moments in this life.  There is no room for old hatreds, grievances and grudges in the Christian life let alone heaven.  For some, these things fall away at the moment of Salvation. For others it is a lifelong process of surrendering them to God and being freed from the pain and captivity that they cause. 

So here AnnMarie and I sit freed from all the wrongs and hurts of the past, praying that my mother would receive all the Grace and Mercy that God provides that she could walk freely and willingly into Eternity.

In Christ,

Alan & AnnMarie

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