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Stay with Jesus!



1 John 2:27 is pretty “straight to the point” as it says “Just as [the Holy Spirit] has taught you…remain in fellowship with Christ.” The key word here is “remain!” Once we accept Jesus as our Savior (become born-again), we must realize this isn’t the end…at all. Just the opposite!! It is only the beginning. After receiving Christ, we are challenged to move forward from where we are now to grow ever closer to Him.
The worst possible condition for a human being is to “not remain” in Jesus after having truly received Him. In other words, treating “salvation” as nothing more than a “fire insurance policy” or some type of spiritual “guarantee” that we “won’t go to hell, now!” To “get saved” and then just turn away and go on with my life just the way it was before I became a Christian is “not how it works” or why salvation is accepted.
To become a Christian, and then to fail to grow, obey, change and become stronger is horribly sad if not a humiliating disaster. The Bible says in 2 Peter 2:20-21: "And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life."
Scripture reveals to us that it is possible for one to lose their faith and "fall away from [their] sincere and complete devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3). This is Wesleyan (Methodist) teaching that we would call “falling from grace” which is probably not aligned what some of you have known as the “once saved, always saved” concept  that some other Denominations teach.
Therefore, if we have become a Christian, but have spiritually “cooled off” since then and become more of a passive spectator, maybe we should seriously stop, right now and plead with the Lord for the grace to not only come back to Him, but to always "remain in Him" (1 John 2:28).
Maybe it is time for a spiritual “spring cleaning” of sorts where we honestly assess where we stand in our relationship with Jesus. Where am I in my spiritual life in regards to obedience, service, worship, reconciliation, and growth? Choose and prepare to be committed to Him more than ever before.
"If what you heard from the beginning does remain in your hearts, then you in turn will remain in the Son and in the Father" (1 John 2:24). Regardless of “where” we are in our relationship with Jesus Christ, we can all strive to take even one step closer to Him! Move in His direction! Stay with Jesus, now…and forever.


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