Hi, my name is Erica. First I want to tell you I have huge respect for you and what you do. I have been struggling with a question about salvation. I am without a doubt saved and do my very best to stay in God’s will, but I wonder is there a way to lose salvation? I was taught that it is impossible, however as I read the scripture (with very little ability to research), it seems like it can be lost. Can you help shine some light on this for me? Thanks a ton

 

Hello Erica!  Thank you so much for your encouragement and for blessing me today.

Let’s think through this question together.  I promise I’m not being sarcastic at all.

Question: Can I lose my salvation?

But then let’s ask, What is salvation?  A thing I obtain?  Something I hold?  An intangible factoid?  A conceptual piece of knowledge?  A feeling of assurance?

And what do we mean by lose?  Like the way we lose a wallet or my job or my mind?

I think many of us feel about salvation the same way we do some kind of shiny precious trophy — “This is my precious and I have to hold it for dear life.”

But maybe this premise is actually wrong. I don’t think salvation is like a toy we can keep or lose — because the author of our salvation is the very one who does the holding.  Salvation is not so much a thing as it is about a story and a person.  We get it backwards: we don’t so much have God as God has us.  It sounds like a cute preacher thing to say, but let’s not confuse “cute” for “untrue.”  It’s completely true.

I know we can read verses like Hebrews 6:4-6 and feel like salvation is “lose-able.”  But in the context of the entire Bible, we need to balance these verses within the scope of God’s Narrative.  Once God calls us and we respond, we belong to Him from eternity past to eternity future (John 10:28).  Like God told Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?” (Numbers 11:23). 

If you ask me to explain how both can be true — that we choose God as God chooses us — my head might explode, or it would have to be the size of the universe to understand.  All I know is: once we’re adopted, it’s a done deal.

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