Performance-based

You can't earn salvation; you accept it. I've been thinking quite a bit about this. Nearly everything in life is performance-based. In sports, you're only as good as your last play.

Okay, I'm stopping here to climb on my soapbox. I don't like it when a player has a bad moment, and suddenly his career is tanking, according to some sports commentators. I'll just leave that there and climb down.

You are rated in school by test scores. You are ranked on the job by productivity. Even in the old covenant, you had to do certain things, bring a certain sacrifice, attend special observances, and obey the rules. Suddenly, Jesus came, and everything changed. Our standing with God is no longer performance-based; it's faith-based.

Church attendance, Bible reading, and praying are all good things that we should all do, but they won't change your status with God by doing them or not doing them. Our relationship with God is solely based on making Jesus our Lord. It's that simple.

By Rick “Papa” Wilson