Election. This has been a hard-fought battle between Reformers and Catholics between Calvinists and Arminianists or Molinists, and between Aquinas and Augustine. Whatever your camp may be, compatibilist, libertarian or open theist, one thing must be necessarily true: God is sovereign. Grace comes from God and only God. Grace is an un merited favor which God bestows upon the creature simply because He is God and we are not. He chooses to give grace. Now grace can be common as in looking up at the stars and knowing we didn’t do all that, somebody did. That’s common grace. That’s given to all humans whether they accept it or not. See, without common grace, there would be no grace at all. And without grace, there is no communication with God. That’s what Hell is: no common grace. There’s another type of grace, being special or efficacious or even prevenient grace which God bestows on those whom He elects. Again, whether we have a say in this election (free will) or not, or how much choice we have is a topic for a future reflection. Safe to say, God bestows grace. It’s not merited. No works can get you grace of any kind. It’s God’s gift to those whom He chooses. Sure, there are passages in the Bible where God wishes none to perish but all to come to Him. So, grace is offered. The next step is important. Regeneration. See, you cannot know Jesus unless you have been born of the Spirit. This is biblical. No regeneration, no knowing Jesus. Once you’ve been born again, you repent of your sins, knowing that you’re a sinner and have a sin nature. With this sin nature, you cannot be with God, so you must be saved from your sin. That’s where Jesus comes in. He died on the cross for us. He bore our sin and gave us His righteousness so that we can stand before a holy God without sin. We are thus justified by the blood of Jesus and His Death and Resurrection. From there, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of the believer as your body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. Now this next process involves sanctification as we become less sinful and more holy. We now are adopted children into the Kingdom of God. Once we die, our souls go to Heaven to be absent the body and present with the Lord. We are then sealed and glorified, incapable of ever sinning again. Once Jesus returns, we will have new glorified bodies. We will be with our God and He will be with us for eternity with a new Heaven and a new Earth.
It’s not as simple as praying a prayer and now going on and doing what you used to do as a sinner, living your life free from God. That’s not salvation, that’s condemnation. Committing your life to God requires daily sacrifice to Him. Why? Well, He sacrificed for us. He didn’t have to. He did it because of love. So, we in turn, sacrifice ourselves to Him for love to God. While sacrificing, this does not come easy as we are still in our sin nature. The enemy chooses distractions so as to lie to us. By distracting us, we turn from God and choose sin. The sacrifice is daily, hourly, minute by minute. Following Jesus is discipleship. You can’t be just a fan of Jesus. That’s not salvation, that’s condemnation. You will be hated. You could be persecuted. You could be killed for following Him. Suffering will come just like blessings. God chooses to test us, to chastise us, to love us. We are His. Life will get much harder and much more complicated as one turns from the world to God. But there are rewards. The gifts of the Spirit: joy, peace, love, compassion, humility, kindness, generousness, and self-awareness are just a few of these wonderful treasures which God bestows upon us instead of anxiety, worry, depression, greed, hate, immorality, pride, and idolatry. The inclination towards holiness leads to fellowship with God, the inclination to sin leads to fellowship with Satan. One must choose. A house divided cannot stand. As one becomes more holy, one chooses sin less and less. The world holds no hold on you. Believers are aliens just passing through the world to get to glory with Jesus in Heaven.
The path to God is the path given to us by God. There is no “road up to the mountaintop.” Jesus is the only path to God because Jesus is God. If one would not choose Jesus as Lord and Savior, then once you die you will give an account of all your works, the good and the bad. If you have one sin (and we all do), then your choice is Hell. This comes a big surprise to many. There are quite a few arguments and excuses. But the choice is ours. Which path will you follow?