Salvation means forgiveness and remission of sins. If all Christians become like Christ, the Earth would be a Paradise.
ADEPR-Gatenga based Missionary and Pastor Desire Habyarimana has revealed that the world is full of the so-called Christians whose lives remain unchanged even though they claim to be saved. This according to him is linked to the fact that a big number of Christians have preferred shortcuts and disregard steps of salvation.
The well-known preacher said that many people especially church leaders fight for big titles but their testimonies are different from what they call themselves.
“The real Christians never fight for big titles, instead for changed lives. Testimonies should speak louder than titles. Receiving Jesus Christ is the only solution for the meaningful life.”
What is salvation?
Quoting Luke 1:77, “To bring and give the knowledge of salvation of salvation to His people in the forgiveness and remission of their sins,” the preacher said that after salvation there are numerous steps to be observed.
Habyarimana said, “We are in a country where a big number of people are Christians basing on the statistics. I would like to explain more about Salvation, and when a person gets saved.”
A person gets saved only when it is a work done by the Holy Spirit in the person’s heart. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world of their sins and teach them everything about righteousness, he explained.
The Holy Spirit is a kindle that lights in the heart of a person and brings knowledge that the reward of sin is death while the gift of God is an everlasting life. This leads to the grief toward repentance and pushes a person to turn to God. That is the work of the Holy Spirit only.
What comes after salvation?
The preacher explained that salvation is not limited to repentance only, but repentance is followed by believing in the perfect atonement of Jesus Christ and proclaim it.
When a person repents, believes and gets baptized, the next step is sanctification of soul basing on three parts made a person which are Spirit, Soul and Body.
Nowadays, churches focus on tangible things like tithe, offerings to call their members true Christians ….but For Jesus, a person is accepted depending on the change of their hearts.
After you are saved, there is a need of sanctification and change of mind.
This is a vital step that many have failed to observe. They are pleased by shortcuts, Habyarimana noted.
“To change your mind is to die with Jesus and resurrect with Him.”
To make it clear, for instance…. Many people think that drinking drugs or fornication does not matter, but the only solution is to take the old nature and crucify it on the cross. Whenever your body desires for something wrong, remember that you are a child of God and the word of God prohibits bad acts. Salvation disciplines us.
We are called to be Christlike. So, we have to train ourselves to be like Him. Jesus told the Apostles to go and make Disciples. A disciple is a person who learns from His teacher to become like him.