Commitment

I once heard a preacher at a church who said we could lose our salvation if we “bit the hand of God one too many times” so to speak.  I wrestled with this idea quite a bit in my younger Christian life, until I heard this preacher.  He said, “If you were standing with your child on the yellow line of a busy highway, if you child hit your hand enough times you’d let him go.”

Rubbish!  I’d never let my child go!  I might rough him up a bit to make him stop.  But I’d never let go of his hand.

There are some who say those who believe in “eternal security” make excuses for a reason to sin.  It’s true, I can’t deny it.  On the other hand, how easy it is for a person who thinks they might lose salvation to behave in a manner they think God desires, merely because they are afraid of God.  The only problem is it can’t be done.  At what point do we lose our salvation based on sin? How many sins is too many? How about when we don’t realize we’ve sinned?

I would much more like to serve God because I love Him than because I’m afraid of going to hell.  Sometimes lessons are slow, but they are lessons none the less.

Prior to my conversion, I was a drug addict.  After my conversion I was a drug addict.  God doesn’t make you wash up before you take a bath.

I remember distinctly being at my best friend’s house and there were a bunch of us doing cocaine.  I was trying to tell everyone about my conversion, and the stuff I’d recently learned about God.  Someone passed me the rolled up bill and I snorted up a line of coke.  I still kept on talking about God.  One person finally asked, “How can you snort up coke and preach about God at the same time?”  The funny thing was it didn’t even phase me.  Well, why couldn’t I.  I was saved wasn’t I?  I was going to heaven, so what did it matter?

Later, one of my friends who had also been recently converted told me how much that effected her.  How could she be a good witness, win people over to Christ, and still do drugs.

Wow!

Well, that never occurred to me.

So... this meant the way I acted in front of others had a directed impact on my witnessing power?

Hmmmm.

Okay, so I’m a little slow.  I just kept doing drugs and stopped witnessing.  Except I was going to church every week.  Every week!  And every week an alter call was given. (I attended a fundamental church)   Every week I’d go forward and pray, “Lord, help me to stop smoking pot!  I hate it.”  Every Monday morning I was smoking a joint on the way to work.  This went on for months.  It was horrible.  I knew what I didn’t want to do, I just kept doing it (Romans).  Then I got pregnant.