"So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day they were added about three thousand souls." Acts 2:41
I was fifteen when I declared my faith in the Lord. Upon confessing Jesus as the Son of God, my Savior, I was baptized. Thus, I began my walk as a Christian. It was not only a glorious moment within my life, it was when I was "added" to the church, the same way that those three thousand were added when the church was newly formed.
What tends to confuse others that were brought up under different teaching, is they presume that this process is how a person states they were "saved". Nope, it is how one becomes a Christian. The bible tells me what process I should go through in order TO BE saved; not *POOF* now I can turn my proverbial tassel over from the "unsaved" to the "saved" side. What it is saying is the day I am truly saved, is the day that I have been given the inheritance of eternal life. Right now, I'm still living on Earth. I don't HAVE the inheritance yet, I've just been promised it. The actually inheritance of salvation happens on the day that I stand before God. That is the day that we "will be saved" or, "will be condemned" (Mark 16:16)
In that context, I don't refer to the "day I was saved" (hang on, checking to make sure I still have a pulse). That IS the day that I began my Christian walk. I will be saved as I continue to keep Jesus in my heart until the day I pass from this world to face my day of judgement. Only then, am I truly spared from eternal punishment. Let's face it, until then, there are still plenty of chances for me to screw that up. While I am far from being a perfect Christian, I don't think God will allow that to happen. My God IS an awesome God. I will continue to hunger for further knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that is ONLY found in God's Word.
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