Saving Faith

12/21/12                          Steve              about 20

Today at the grocery store I asked a young man named Steve whether he believes he will go to heaven.  He does not.  I asked why – “Because I haven’t gotten saved yet”  “How can a person “get saved”? I asked.   “I need to trust Jesus as my Savior” he said.  Further questions confirmed to me that this isn’t just a cliché’ to him, that he really understands that Jesus is the Son of God, sacrificed on the cross in place of the just penalty we deserve for our sins.  He believes those who trust Jesus are saved from hell, but readily admits that he is not.  Steve grew up Pentecostal, and told me that all his family, his wife and his son are “saved”, except for him.  Why?   “I know the consequences, and I know tomorrow is not promised, but I’m just not ready yet” he told me.  He understood and accepted responsibility for his own sinful choices, and claimed he had no overwhelming sinful habit keeping him from following Jesus. He prays regularly and seemed to have no bitterness or animosity toward God.  As far as I could tell, the only thing keeping him from “getting saved” was procrastination.  I told him how I felt about my own experience of coming to faith in Christ.  “I felt like Lazarus, waking up from the dead there in the tomb.  The stone had been rolled away, sunlight is streaming in, and Jesus is outside telling me to get up and come out.  The only choice I had to make was when I would do so.  I had already come to life.  It was only a matter of time before I would come out of that tomb”  I told him this because it seemed like Steve had already come to faith, but he just needs to move forward with it.  Many people believe they are Christians when they really are not, but is it possible to believe you are not a Christian when you really are?  Steve seemed to fit that description. God has already given him a good amount of faith.  I just pray its saving faith.