God's Role in Salvation
Theologically most of us would agree that "salvation is of the Lord", right? That it is God who does the saving, not us. But, in practice...well, in practice i think that many of us act like the whole thing rests upon ourselves! I think that can be proved by the inner struggle that many of us have when considering sharing the Gospel with other people. We get sidelined by such questions as: What if i don't have answers to all of their questions? Or, what if I don't properly explain every detail of the message correctly? Or, what if the person rejects what i am saying and i somehow let God down?
All of these questions and more can stop us from the crucial work of evangelism. But, what if our focus is wrong? What if our understanding of salvation is a bit off? What if those concerns actually reveal a faulty root? What if God really was the One who worked in a persons heart, causing it to open to the message of the Gospel, causing faith and light to come that they could believe? What if God really was with us...working in that persons heart while we speak? What if our role was more of the one passing the ball to the shooter (to take a basketball analogy)...we are assistants, God is the shooter. We just get the ball to Him, He has to worry about making the shot. In short, what if the whole thing of a person coming to faith in Jesus was more God's work than ours? What would that do to our hearts?
First of all, here in Acts 16:11-15 we find Paul speaking about Jesus to some women at a prayer meeting in Philippi. Yes, we have a role to play. We've got to open our mouths and talk to people about Jesus...that is our part. But, what we see happening behind the scenes is so encouraging and enlightening. "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us, and the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." How cool is that? While Paul was speaking about Jesus, God opened her heart and she got it! God was working at the same time Paul was speaking! What a thought! We are not alone in our witnessing! True, we don't know whose hearts God will be working in. And, true that not everyone will believe. But, the fact remains that it is God who works in peoples hearts according to the message of Jesus being shared! People's hearts don't open as a result of my powerful presentation! Or, as a result of my persuasive arguments! People's hearts open as a result of GOD working along side of the gospel message!
This should encourage us greatly!
1) We are not alone! God is with us when we tell people about His Son! Like a proud Dad, He shows up and opens people's hearts to Him!
2) Acceptance or rejection to the message doesn't rest upon me. Yes i need to do my best to present the truth of the gospel in all of it's fullness. And, yes i need to answer people's questions or objections as best i can. But, ultimately it is God's responsibility to save the souls of men! And, i think He can handle it :)
Created over 2 years ago
