Salvation is far more than a gift. It is a saving relationship that we have entered. We enter it by faith and live it out by faith as a life of trust and obedience. Biblically, belief and faith are never mere past events in our lives that initiate a conversion. Belief and faith are present-active adherence to our Lord day by day and moment by moment. Yesterday’s belief is a pitiful and false substitute for a present intimate relationship with our Lord. This is the relationship that saves and makes us thrive.
“Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (NRSV)
