Affirmation

If you could have only one thing completely affirmed about yourself today, what would you want it to be? (Deeper question: what should you want it to be?)

That you are financially secure and set for the rest of your natural life? That you are physically healthy and free of disease for decades to come? That your name and reputation or widely respected and will be honored throughout history?

How about this: That the salvation spoken of in the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and real and yours?

Which of these choices would you want to have undoubtedly affirmed to you today? Your answer will reveal much about what you value and desire.

Let’s add another perspective to the question. If you had ALL of the first three options (wealth, health, and honor), but nothing changed with the last one, how would you feel? And if we flipped it. You had continual questions and doubts about ALL of the first three, but an unshakeable peace about the last one. Now, how would you feel?

Jesus spoke of this very situation when He asked, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

The context of that statement is the conversation Jesus has with His disciples about WHO He truly is. The Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God.

After that conversation, Jesus tells His followers WHAT He must do and WHAT will happen to Him. Derision. Suffering. Torture. Murder. But also, Resurrection!

Peter latches on only to the earthly elements of Jesus' foretelling and declares, “NO, no, no! Never! Not that! Not you!” Jesus then points out Peter’s nearsightedness, and asks that probing priority-revealing question we looked at above.

What does it matter if you have the house(s), and the car(s), and the toys, and the income, and the bank accounts, and the honor if you don’t have an eternally secure soul?

What does it matter if you DON’T have the house, or the car, or the toys, or the income, or the bank account, or the honor but you DO have security beyond all that those things can ever hold – salvation?

Out of all the options we listed at the beginning of this entry there is only one that is truly secure, truly valuable, and freely attainable today. The salvation spoken of in the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and real and yours…TODAY.

“This is the testimony, God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” - I John 5:12-13

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” -Romans 10:13