“Who are kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:5).

One of the saddest conversations in many ways that I remember having was with a person who believed that he had to trust Christ for salvation but that he also needed to keep himself saved. He lived daily in fear of “losing his salvation.”

My conversation was gracious but probing. I asked him, “Does that mean that every single time you sin, you lose your salvation?” His response was, “No, of course not.” So I asked a little further, “Then how many times do you sin before you lose your salvation?” He had no answer. So I asked, “If you sinned three times, would you lose your salvation?” The person told me, “I don’t think it is the amount of times, it is the type of sins.” I said, “Oh, I understand now. So if you lie, do you lose your salvation? Or if you have a lustful thought, do you lose your salvation? Or is it…” and I paused. I probed a little further, “Instead of me listing off sins, would you just show me from the Bible what sins make you lose your salvation?” Of course he could not turn to a passage. I was thrilled to share just the opposite from the Word of God. Aren’t you glad that we are KEPT by the power of God! It wasn’t that I wanted to win some kind of argument. I wanted him to understand the joy and security of Christ’s gift of salvation.

Join me in thinking often of this today: Not by my strength or ability but by the mighty power of God are we kept by God.