The Foremost Thing that We Need to Do in Order to be Saved
Bro. Eliseo F. Soriano
A
LL MEN NEED TO BE SAVED.God is offering salvation to all men.However, God has set ways andmeans to attain salvation. God doesnot want us to consider only what we want. Apparently, this is the flaw of many religions today – they follow their own selves only. And yet, they are still expecting forsalvation.
Let us instill in our minds that we cannever be saved if we will only do whatever we think is righteous in our service to God.This is what St. Paul said in
Romans 10:2- 3, 1
—
“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according toknowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and goingabout to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that theymight be saved.”
St. Paul prayed for the salvation of those who did not want to submitthemselves to the righteousness of God, because they were not amongstthe candidates for salvation. Why? Because they followed only their ownrighteousness! That is why, in our service to God, it is imperative that youset aside your own righteousness. This is, actually, one of Christ’sadmonitions to those who want to serve Him.
Luke 9:23
says--
“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him denyhimself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
Did you see the foremost requisite set by Christ if you want to serve Him?It is self-denial! You have to deny yourself of so many things, you have to bear your cross daily, and you have to follow Him. That is why service toGod means self-denial. You have to set aside your own beliefs, your ownperceptions, and your own opinions. Such should not prevail in yourservice to God. All men have their own thinking; they have their own plansin life; they have their own priorities; they have their own principles; they have their own attitudes. But in our service to God, we should not let thosethings rule over us.
Lamentation 3:35
says—
“To turn aside the right of man before the face of the most High ...”
The Foremost Thing that We Need to Do in Order to be Saved
Bro. Eliseo F. Soriano
We must not insist on what we think is right. It is not our self-establishedrighteousness that we must exercise. It would clash against God’srighteousness. Whatever man thinks is righteous is not always righteous toGod. And for us to be in good terms with God, we should set aside our ownrighteousness like what St. Paul did.
Philippians 3:9
says—
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of thelaw.”
But today, most religious organizations consider only their ownrighteousness. They implement and obey only their own laws instead of God’s. However, the laws of God should be obeyed by all, most especially by the pastor. There is a self-proclaimed “apostle” who asks his membersto collect money from passers-by in the streets. But never has he donesuch thing. Perhaps, he is ashamed to do it. Nevertheless, he orders hismembers to do that shameful act.That is why, in religion and in our service to God, the very first thing that we must exercise is not our own caprices. Remember what the prayer which our Lord Jesus Christ taught us?“Our Father which art in heaven,Hallowed by thy name.Thy kingdom come.Thy will be done in earth,as it is in heaven ...”It is the will of God that should prevail. And this is also the reason why when our Lord Jesus was about to suffer, His prayer to the Father was—
“... O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it,thy will be done.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ is showing us that it should be the will of the Fatherthat must prevail, and not ours. There is a great danger if what we will doare only the things that we consider righteous.
Proverbs 14:12
says—
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof arethe ways of death.”
Therefore, there are things that seem to be righteous for man. Let me give you an illustration. There was a lady who had three suitors. And one of them was an expert in employing flattering words. The girl’s parents were very much against that guy because of his lack of sincerity. But for thelady, that guy is the most deserving of all her suitors. As a result, after only
The Foremost Thing that We Need to Do in Order to be Saved
Bro. Eliseo F. Soriano
three months of marriage, she returned to her parents because the guy hadabandoned her.This is the reason why the Bible warned us:
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof arethe ways of death.”
So, if we want to be saved, we should not do only the things which wethink are righteous. There are things which are righteous for man, but notfor God.
I Corinthians 10:23
says—
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all thingsare lawful for me, but all things edify not.”
There are things which man perceives to be righteous for himself but littledo they realize that they are not righteous for others. Isn’t it that forothers, it is beneficial to steal because in doing so, they are gainingsomething? But is it beneficial to those whom they victimize? Realrighteousness is not just righteous to one but to all. It is righteous in theeyes of God, it is also righteous for others and to oneself. But there arethings which are righteous to oneself only but harmful to others.For example, let’s say that you are residing in a subdivision, and youdecided to raise hogs. In itself, there is nothing wrong with raising hogs. Itis a way of augmenting the financial needs of a family. In fact, there is nolaw that prohibits anybody from raising hogs. Besides, you are not lettingthem loiter anywhere. They are kept in a sty, or a pigpen. But, while it istrue that you can contain the pigs in a sty, the fact remains that you cannotcontain the putrid smell of their excrements within your territory. Yourneighbors will surely smell it, and they will definitely complain. We once built a motor shop. For us, it was a righteous thing because wecould earn money out of it. But for our neighbors, it was annoying becauseof the noise that we were producing as we pounded the metals. They couldn’t sleep. So, we just decided to close the shop.Not everything that is righteous to you would also be acceptable to others.If this is true with our dealing with our fellowmen, more so with ourservice to God. That is why, the foremost requisite to salvation is not to do what we think is righteous. What we need to consider is God’srighteousness. The same admonition was repeated by St. Paul in
I Corinthians 6:12
—
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all thingsare lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
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