John 3:16 (NKJV): For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
SALVATION is a GIFT freely GIVEN of GOD, our Heavenly Father, and HIS WORD assures us in Ephesians 2:8-10 that “it is by grace [we] have been saved, through faith—and this is not from [ourselves], it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Although SALVATION through JESUS is FREELY GIVEN, for US—those of us who accept that we’re created in the image and likeness of GOD who’ve answered the CALL and CHOSEN to WALK IN FAITH and LIVE FOR GOD, and those of us who CALL ourselves BELIEVERS—completely committed FOLLOWERS—and not fans—of JESUS, the CHRIST, the ANOINTED ONE, the SAVIOR, THESE are the COSTS:
(1) LOVE (GOD loved us enough to give His Only SON, and He requires us to love Him equally—enough to give wholeheartedly—ALL that we have—our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), and He also commands that we seek and love Him foremost and then others—our neighbors (Matthew 6:33));
(2) FAITH (This is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1), and without it, it is impossible to please GOD, for he who comes to GOD must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6));
(3) SUBMISSION and OBEDIENCE (GOD expects us to submit to Him (James 4:7-8), so He can come to us, and He wants us to do what pleases Him, surrendering all to Him, including even our lives, so He can lead us where we need to go, and in 1 John 3:23-24, it says, “this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”);
(4) TRUST (We’re instructed in Proverbs 3:5-6 to trust in the LORD with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding; in all our ways submit to him, and he will make our paths straight. GOD wants us to not only believe in JESUS but to trust Him—have confidence in Him, His promises—HIS WORD);
(5) ACCEPTANCE (We must RECEIVE the GIFTS of GOD—His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, and we must ACCEPT that we are SAVED and REDEEMED through CHRIST JESUS. We must acknowledge our sins, (Romans 3:23-26), confessing and repenting of those sins (1 John 1:9-10), and we must acknowledge and confess JESUS CHRIST, GOD's SON, as our LORD and SAVIOR, and invite Him into our hearts—our lives (Romans 10:9-10)—so He can cleanse us of all unrighteousness, renew our minds, purify our hearts, and transform us into new creations in CHRIST (2 Corinthians 5:17-19));
(6) ACKNOWLEDGMENT (We’re to confess JESUS before others, identifying ourselves with Him, if we expect Him to acknowledge us before His Father (Matthew 10:32-33); we’re not to be ashamed of Him or try to conceal our faith.);
(7) GRATITUDE (We’re to give thanks for this gift of salvation, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23)).
Indeed, SALVATION is a GIFT, but it has to be RECEIVED in a spirit of humility, love, faith, submission, trust, and gratitude, and ultimately, the COST of SALVATION is EVERYTHING--our hearts, our minds, our strength, our lives, our souls--but the REWARD of SALVATION is LIFE EVERLASTING IN THE PRESENCE of GOD.
