06/05/20 DIETS AND SALVATION — Years ago I worked with a brilliant young man; let’s call him Joe. He had graduated from Cal Tech and was a committed Christian. One day he came to me, forlorn and pale. His wife’s doctor had told her she had a worrisome medical disorder. Joe had never heard of it, so he had searched the Internet for information. But frustrated and embarrassed, the very first site he looked at turned out to be pornography!? Joe told me he had erased the webpage almost immediately, but based on what he had seen, he was pretty sure he had lost his salvation.

I asked him how long we had known each other; he agreed it was about six months. I asked him how many times he had lost his salvation in that time; he estimated about once every two weeks. I told him that for that entire time I had been seriously trying to lose weight via a severe diet; but I had gone on and off that diet about every week or so. He chided me that if I had failed that often then my diet was surely worthless! I told him he had fallen into my trap: Whatever he had lost about thirteen times over the past six months wasn’t worth any more than my (make-believe!) diet.

1 John 5:12-13 (CSB) says, “The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life.” Christianity is NOT a “do-the-best-you-can, hope-so, ya can’t be too sure” kind of faith. Christianity is a “know-so” faith, a sure hope, based solidly on the promises and faithfulness of God our Father and Jesus His Son and our Savior and Lord clearly explained in His Holy Word, the Holy Bible!