“Oh, I don’t think it matters what you believe as long as you are sincere in your belief.” A very common remark, isn’t it? But is it true? Is how you believe more important than what you believe?
A young soldier was going on leave. He had reached the station nearest his home and stood up to leave the train. He opened the door and, with a last over-the-shoulder joke to his friends, stepped into the night-as he thought, onto the platform. His second step was onto NOTHING.
With a startled cry and a wild effort to save himself, he plunged through space and landed twenty feet below on a hard road, alive but badly hurt. What had happened was that just beyond the platform was a bridge over the road and, not noticing that the long train had overrun the platform, he had stepped out onto the bridge railing.
He knew the station well, and he thought he was all right.
BUT HIS SINCERITY DID NOT SAVE HIM.
And so it is with the great question of eternal salvation. We are not left in the dark to form our own opinions, no matter how sincere they may be. The Bible-God’s message to humanity-tells us the way.
Jesus Christ is the way to God-not our opinions or our prayers or our good deeds or our sincerity. He Himself said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
If you feel that things are not right between you and God, and you wish they were, the way to settle the question is simply to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There was a time when the Apostle Thomas said, “I will not believe,” but when he found himself face to face with Jesus, he just owned Him as “my Lord and my God” (John 20:2828And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. (John 20:28)).