Recently I had the opportunity to volunteer on the counseling team for the Judgment House production that our church did and mercy, it was an eye opening experience. I heard stories from ladies who had walked away from any contact or even any desire for contact with God because of anger and hurt “at God” over situations that had occurred in their lives. Those stories broke my heart, but the thing that has truly blown my mind is the lack of understanding about how grace works.
Let me share with you a conversation that I had with one lady who attended Judgment House and I think you will better grasp what I mean. Now, please understand that the main idea that this lady and I spoke about was echoed many times by various ladies I counseled. So, while this conversation was particular to one lady, the lack of understanding about grace was widespread among the ladies attending the event.
Mary (not her real name) is someone I have been witnessing to and loving on for several years. She has heard the gospel presentation on at least ten occasions and probably more. She does not come from a “church” background and does not currently attend church. When the decision time arrived during the Judgment House tour and the gospel was presented (for the fourth time), participants were asked to raise their hand if they had prayed to receive Christ during the tour or during the final decision time. Mary raised her hand and a counselor spent a long time talking to her about her decision.
A few days later I had an opportunity to visit with Mary. She said to me that she enjoyed the conversation with the counselor and with our pastor, but she raised her hand because she had prayed the prayer of salvation again. She told me that she feels like she just cannot “maintain” salvation without praying ‘the prayer’ each time the opportunity arises.
It is not up to me to judge whether Mary has truly been saved. That is between Mary and God, however, I believe it is up to me to attempt to help her understand that once you have prayed the prayer of salvation, you are saved and nothing can change that. There is NEVER a need to pray that prayer again. I explained to her that I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 15 years old and I have never needed to pray that salvation prayer again.
I went on to use the analogy of marriage to explain the concept of grace. I asked Mary to tell me when she and her husband were married. After she told me the date, I asked her if she feels the need to have daily or weekly marriage ceremonies in order to remain married. She said that she did not. I reminded her that the first marriage ceremony did the job, but that she must work to maintain a relationship with her husband through communication, time spent together, forgiveness and other things that go along with the marriage relationship.
Salvation is no different. Asking the Lord into your heart the first time does the job perfectly. There is no more need to pray for salvation over and over again than there is a need to have a marriage ceremony repeatedly in order to stay married. I explained to Mary that as we live the Christian life there are things we should do in order to build and maintain that relationship with Christ, for instance talk to Him through prayer, study His Word, and ask Him to forgive the sin that is inevitably a part of our lives on a daily basis.
As I said earlier, Mary is one of untold numbers of people who believe that one must “do” something in order to be saved. Salvation is a free GIFT! GIFT is the key word. One does not have to work for or pay for a gift. It is something that is given freely by one person out of love for another. Jesus offers us salvation free and clear. He has done the work; all we have to do is accept it one time. Paul said it very well in Ephesians 2: 8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
