The Next Step – Life after Salvation

I'M SAVED – NOW WHAT?

I think I was in the sixth grade when I accepted Jesus as my personal savior. We were living with my Mother in a little town in East Tennessee. During this same time our Mother started taking us to a church in town, and my twin brother and I became very involved with the youth group and choir.  In fact, we had our first mission trip with them that summer.

It's funny I don't remember the details about the trip, like where the money came from to sponsor us, but I do remember that we had to have white pants and different colored rugby shirts, and reversible skirts that were made for us (you guess the decade haha.) It was on this trip, that I began feeling a change; I was going through the change at 12 – except I was feeling it in my heart. My emotions were all over the place and I think this might have been the beginning, not of the change of life; but, of a life change. Although I wasn't necessarily getting it, I was beginning to take my salvation and spirituality a little more seriously. When I returned home from that mission trip, I wanted a closer relationship with Jesus. I decided to make my belief and commitment public, so I was baptized. Please keep in mind that getting baptized does not get us into heaven. It is merely a public profession of our faith – and an instruction from our Holy Bible.

"whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:16 NIV.

Now even though I was saved and baptized, I still was so very far from where I should have been spiritually. Even worse is I didn't even know that at the time. Looking back, I was not really changing all at once. I was one who apparently thought baptism was the beginning of many re-dedications of my life to Christ. I was very very wrong!

When we have a really emotional or "feel good" experience, we are ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!.......until that feel-good fades away.. Then we are pretty much back to normal, until the next feel good experience; and we enthusiastically re-dedicate again. This cycle was repeating itself for me, because I was not growing. I was born again, but I was not doing anything to nourish the spirit, or to grow in the Lord. Frankly, I didn't know that was a step, or that my new life should be a process of nourishment and growth – an actual transforming life.

In my mid-teens, I had another one of those "experiences." At this point, we lived with our father in another Tennessee town, and going to a new church. We again, were deeply involved in the choir and youth program. Our youth group was on one of several bible camps and mission trips. Again, the details surrounding the experience are fuzzy. About halfway through the trip, we were having our evening devotion and prayer time. At some point in the evening, we were all standing in a prayer circle holding hands. As we prayed, I began to cry – not too odd since there were many tears in our circle...except my tears came with noises, uncontrollable noises. Then I was wailing! Something was happening to me far beyond my control and after some time, I realized my outbursts had interrupted the entire circle of prayer. Somehow, I did not have enough self control at that moment to be concerned about it.  Later, as I began regaining some of my senses, some of the kids asked me what was wrong. Other kids were laughing about it, and then there some who were more than a little freaked out about what had happened to me. I did not know how to handle their curiosities; I did not understand it myself. But once again I was feeling a little more serious about my life as a Christian, and knew deep in my soul I was a child of God; no matter how spiritually mature I was or how faithfully I served Him! I left that wailing- noise experience behind on the trip, never to be discussed again; until 20 years later, when I learned about being filled with the Holy Spirit – hmmm......WOW!!

That is pretty much the sum of my life, as a young Christian trying to find my way in this life. I did not know what to do with my gift of eternal life after I received it. Actually, I did not know there was anything to do after we got saved; I didn't even bother to remember very well the experiences. But thanks to a loving and merciful God, that did not lessen the reality that I am saved by Jesus Christ; and have invited Him to dwell in me until I am called home to rejoice in glory forever!

I received the free gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit; yet I foolishly did nothing with those gifts. We all get gifts throughout our lives that are wonderful; if we know what to do with them, or how to use them. However, if we never use our gifts after we receive them, they just sit useless and unknown. Did you ever get a toy or a tool you did not use? It sat around "somewhere" collecting dust. If you forget your gift, you might very well end up like me; and forget the very situation in which you received your gift in the first place.  Did you even tell anyone about your gift? On the other hand the more you use your tool or toy, the more you understand it. The more knowledge you have about how it works, what you can do with it; and chances are, you've shared with others, just how much you love your new gift.. Well, my dear friends, the gift of salvation is the most precious gift you can ever receive. Please, please do not let it sit as I did. Use it to its very fullest, and share it with as many people as possible. And the most exciting part about this gift is...it comes with a HANDBOOK!

One of the most important lessons I ever learned in my life (although I am certainly not through learning yet,) is that I do not know Everything about Anything!! This was such a valuable epiphany to me and life changing. No matter how honed my organizational skills or common sense, there would always be so much more to learn. The same holds true in our salvation. Thankfully, and I caution you, our Salvation does not make us any better than any other person on this earth. It does not give me superiority in the lives of others around me, saved or unsaved. What it did, and does give me, is the complete assurance that I would spend eternity with the most complete true love of my life in Heaven. His name? Jesus Christ, my personal savior!

With all this being said, I did not fully understand the utter simplicity of this acceptance and eternity before. And I certainly did not grasp that there was so much more to my role, as a member in the family of God, than just being "saved."  

Now, here's the kicker: Yes, we must believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ His only Son; and we must believe God sent His only son Jesus into this world as a tiny baby to grow up and be crucified to take the burden of our sins away and free us from the punishment of those sins. We have to believe that when Jesus died, He took all of our sins away and freed us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.  

We must also know that nothing - not one thing - will get us into Heaven with our Lord and savior except THAT belief and accpetance of Jesus as our Savior! 

Then comes... professing our faith and making our commitment public.

Galatians's 3:27 NIV

"for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ"

Our baptism is our public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is the symbolic washing away of our sins and being re-born, or born again, spotless; thanks to the sacrifices of Jesus Christ. Now go tell, go tell, go tell and GO TELLLLL!!!! We have to tell everyone of the good news that Jesus came, and died for our sins to set us free and give us the FREE GIFT of eternal life in HEAVEN.

Isaiah 52:7 (New International Version) How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Oh please, let us not be selfish with such a wonderful message!! You see, we are very blessed. Our God not only asked us to love and serve Him and His people, but he even gave us a handbook (our precious Bible.) We are never ever alone in our journey with the LORD. If we will only use the handbook as our guide, we will not only discover how great and intimate His love truly WAS, IS and WILL ALWAYS BE; but we will easily find direction, for spiritual growth, through His Word. He wants us to grow and to share His love with everyone so that His kingdom will be filled with His children. However, the kingdom cannot be filled with those who do not believe in his death, burial and resurrection. Moreover, the unbelievers cannot believe if they have never seen, heard or been told of His divine salvation story. They will only know these things, if WE the believers tell them of the Good News!

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? Any how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach ;unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14:15 NIV

Lets take The Next Step in Life after Salvation together -