There's More To It

     I was saved, or asked Jesus into my heart 8 years ago this month, and I thought then that that was all that was required of me to get into Heaven. I considered myself as a Christian at that point, and started going to church regularly and even became a youth leader. I participated a lot in church activity, mostly because I was under the impression you had too. But looking back, growing up in my faith, and having a better understanding of what it means to be a Christian I realize there's more to it.
      Confessing that I was a sinner and inviting Jesus into my heart was only the first step, but many Christians don't realize that there is more, there are many churches that don't teach that is more. But time and study has taught me that there is. Saying the prayer of salvation alone is not going to get you into heaven, it is however your second chance at life, a life with Jesus. There are still other requirements and we will each will still be judged by our hearts and deeds, but if you are truly saved you will be judged worthy before God. What does it truly mean to be truly saved?
       It means to have asked him into your heart and to die to the ways of the world. In other words you have to change, you have to cut out the sinful behaviors, and usually the people you used to sin with. You have to walk in a way fitting of the title Christian, or Christ like. Being a Christian, being saved, means to become like Christ. Does that mean you can't ever screw up again? No, but it does mean that you have to make a conscience, and deliberate decision to live a life that honors God everyday.
       I mentioned in the first paragraph that I served the church as a youth leader and other things, and service to the church is wonderful! But, service to the church, and claiming to be saved would never have kept me from hell, because my heart was not right with God. Good deeds cannot buy your way into His kingdom. It's our hearts that God looks at.
      Honestly, I cannot tell you when it was that I realized I had it all wrong, it happened gradually over time until one day I just knew I had to change things, that I needed more of Him, but since then I have been determined in my studies and my relationship with the Almighty. I had to surrender myself completely to Him, and started seeking His will in everything. I had to make God first in my life,  I had to put aside fear, (which is soooo much easier said than done, and I still struggle with it all the time) and really start to believe that He knew what was best for me. I had to change myself, and strive to be obedient to the Holy Spirit, instead of my desires.
      Thankfully, the Lord knows my heart and knows I am trying. Being saved is not a free pass to sin, we still have to live a life that reflects Christ's life here on earth, but accepting Jesus, gives us a link to God to ask for forgiveness or anything else through Jesus, by his blood and in his name. If you have only said the prayer of salvation, but have not committed yourself to living a lifestyle that is pleasing to God, you are not truly saved or repentant. God knows our hearts and until He is first, you are still of the world. Repent, change, make God your first priority.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Luke 18:14
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Romans 2:12-16
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.