A Practical Path to Salvation as Shown by Jesus

A Practical Path to Salvation as Shown by Jesus

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You know the sermon.  Yes, Jesus paid the price for our sins and gave us salvation but what does that really mean?  Do you actually comprehendingly feel it by virtue of just hearing that said or reading those words in the Bible?  Chances are, you don't or can't really appreciate this through just verbal or literal statement of this being fact.  The key is to experience it firsthand.  Fortunately, in addition to the literal statement, there is a rather precise model illustrating the how aspect for experiencing sinlessness and salvation firsthand.

In addition to teaching through sermons, there is a lot of description about Jesus' walk through life that illustrates how you can get out of your own personal sin cycle and experience the unburdening that salvation offers.

10 Commandments Down to 2

Matthew 22:36-40
New International Version (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

It's interesting that Jesus' response seems to assume that most people have no problem loving themselves sufficiently and that they are always going to look out for number one without worry as to it actually being anybody else than themselves.  So here, He is offering a correction where #1 is really God and #2 is your neighbor.  In effect, Jesus is saying that this was going to be a huge shift in thinking for most folks and that there wasn't need to love yourself even more.  This lesson reconciles well with Jesus' earlier statement about taking up the cross.

Matthew 16:24
New International Version (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Biblically speaking, not only must we not worry about ourselves, but we must deny ourselves.  The cross of course represents Jesus' obedience even to death and the persecution that led up to it.  Note Jesus' non-resistance to His arrest, His sentencing, as well as His crucifixion.  All the time, He heeded his two stated commandments by first and foremost putting His faith in God the Father to see Him through and second by remaining peaceful and even forgiving of his accusers/persecutors (bad neighbors but neighbors nonetheless) right up until the end.

If you're not ready to be peaceful and forgiving towards others, perhaps it would be helpful to look at the extent to which you are putting God and neighbors first or to question the extent to which you are unwilling to take yourself off the top pedestal.  We might momentarily be willing to give up the pedestal but the better that we get at more regularly doing so, the richer God's bounty and promise of salvation will seem.