God’s love towards believers is immeasurable but can we take it for granted?
The apostle Paul tells us that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God once we have been saved:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39).
If we belong to Him, Jesus tells us our eternal security is secured:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).
Furthermore, God keeps us in His love and favour:
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24).
The above references seem to tell us that once we have been saved, we can be rest assured that God will always be on our side, no matter what happens. Since we have already bought our ticket to heaven, it will be smooth sailing all the way. No worries.
But can we take God’s love for granted? Like the foolish virgins in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13)? http://bit.ly/1L0vOLy
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."
The foolish virgins are those who profess to be believers but are careless and complacent. They did not carry with them extra oil to keep their lamps burning just in case the bridegroom got delayed. In other words, they just took God’s love for granted.
Like many presumptuous believers in church today, the foolish virgins addressed the groom by the name, "Lord, Lord" (Matthew 25:11). That means they were not outside the circle of believers but had a relationship with the Lord once upon a time. Sadly, they lost their spiritual fervour with the passage of time and were told by the bridegroom, “I don’t know you.”
And, finally, they were shut out from the wedding celebration / heaven.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins emphasises the need to stay spiritually prepared as we await the appearance of the bridegroom, who is a picture of Christ who will return to earth. Keeping one’s lamp filled with oil means staying close to God, constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. When a person thinks he has more than enough time to get ready, he is seriously tempted to be complacent and spiritually lax. It’s worse if he espouses the ‘feel good’ teaching of eternal security (Once Saved, Always Saved, OSAS in short).
The Parable of the Ten Virgins emphasises the need to stay spiritually prepared as we await the appearance of the bridegroom, who is a picture of Christ who will return to earth. Keeping one’s lamp filled with oil means staying close to God, constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. When a person thinks he has more than enough time to get ready, he is seriously tempted to be complacent and spiritually lax. It’s worse if he espouses the ‘feel good’ teaching of eternal security (Once Saved, Always Saved, OSAS in short).
As to whether we can take God's love for granted, let the readers of this blog speak up as well. Let their voices be heard.
As such, I would like to share an unedited comment by Pastor Dr Charles Alphonso on my “Parable of the Ten Virgins” article, http://bit.ly/1L0vOLy.
It was made through the comment section of the “Christianity Malaysia” website on March 13, 2015: **
It was made through the comment section of the “Christianity Malaysia” website on March 13, 2015: **
"A wonderfully written and presented Article covering all bases with respect to the very essence of the Article.
Some of the gems that we can and should extract from this Article is that we should never take GOD’s Love for us for granted and become complacent even for a moment in our Christian walk or should I say Christian Race, using Apostle Paul’s analogy to a race in our journey through life.
That is to even regress a little bit from our Christian walk/race on the narrow but well lit GOD LAMP-LIT Path and from what GOD has so freely given us in CHRIST JESUS, in particular our Salvation among the many other blessings i.e. Rewards, as Mr Lim Poh Ann puts it.
And yes, I certainly agree with him that we can be forfeited our Salvation, if we persist in this entrapment that we place ourselves in – SIN. For it is a willful choice whether to sin or not to sin, so help us GOD we should pray to remain without sinning and to be working well towards our Salvation opportunity.
Finally, we cannot be adherents to the Theology as underwritten in Calvinism which underpins the philosophy of ‘Once Saved Always Saved’. This is harboring on human fantasy and, by default, even on Theological heresy, if I could say so.
Thank you dear Mr. Lim Poh Ann, for your sharing in this and timely warning Article, as we come closer to the Passion Week, which begins on March 29th – i.e. Palm Sunday and continuing till April 5th – the Resurrection Sunday Celebration of our LORD and SAVIOR’s conquest over sin and death, paving the way to our Salvation.
GOD BLESS you and all who may read this comment too; stay strong always in the Faith so that we would never be Shut Out, but to be most fortunate in being Shut In. Amen."
‘IN CHRIST WE REMAIN, WITHOUT CHRIST WE PERISH!’
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