Articles
Beware of the Cut Rate
We have all seen the commercials advertising the cut-rate car insurance. So-and-so company can save you hundreds of dollars a year if you will switch to them but will it cover allthe “mayhem” that is out there in the world? There is always a reason why something is so-o-o-much cheaper than the rest. You always get what you pay for.
In the same way, most of the religious world has invented its own form of cut-rate salvation. They have cheapened the price of discipleship by saying, “God doesn’t care about what we do; He only cares about who we are.” Or many will say, “The wonderful grace of God will overlook every sin I commit as long as I’m in a relationship with Jesus Christ.” They will even go as far as trying to justify this kind of thinking with passages like, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7).
However, this passage is not speaking of Jesus as an umbrella that hovers over our heads and automatically sheds the sin offus. Christians are responsible for the lives that they live. Walking in the light means continually abiding in the commandments of the Lord. The apostle John wrote, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9).
Jesus is our master, our king of kings, the divine ruler over this kingdom that He has established. He is Lord. Many people have no problem calling Jesus their Savior but are having great difficulty respecting Him as Lord! I am in no way trying to downplay the fact that God has extended to us His wonderful grace by providing us a Savior, but we cannot ignore the fact that He is our Lord and He demands that we obey Him (Matt.7:21-23). Speaking of Jesus, the Hebrew writer penned, “And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,” (Heb. 5:9).
The cost of discipleship is high (Luke 14: 26-27). Jesus tells us we must be willing to give up family and friends, wants and pleasures of this life, and yes, even be willing to die to self! I can remember my grandmother saying, “Nothing worth having ever comes easy.” Such is also true in the realm of religion when speaking of salvation. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14).
Remember my friends, we always get what we pay for. It’s awful to find out after you’ve had an accident that your cut-rate car insurance wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. But even worse is the thought of standing before Christ in judgment and learning that what you thought was acceptable to Him was a lie (2 Thess. 2:11-12). When judgment day comes, don’t let it be that you have invested in cut-rate salvation. Search the Scriptures carefully and rightly divide the word of truth while you can, for Jesus said, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48).
Cheapening God’s grace will not get you to heaven, but faithful obedience to His word will. The Lord Himself said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matt.4:4). Though the cost may be high, the reward is great! Never settle for cut-rate salvation.
— Jason Shackleford
