Romans 10:19 in the Bible tell us that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” Is that it though, I mean is that all it takes? What next? Anything?
When I was in Haiti last week I had this conversation with a man who was part of a team of doctors and nurses at a clinic we were serving at. My friend and I were asked to pray for the people coming out of the clinic. So, as I would normally do I sat down with the people coming out and asked them if they wanted prayer and if they did I asked what they needed prayer for. Then, I would pray.
I prayed for a few people like this before Big D (not real name) came up to me and asked how many people I had lead in the sinners prayer. I, to his surprise told him that no one had prayed the sinners prayer. He responded by saying that getting them to say the prayer was the main thing that we needed to get the Haitians to do. Our conversation continued. “Do they know who they are asking to save them” I asked. “Do they know who they are confessing their sins to and who they are asking to come into their lives? Do they even understand what Jesus did for them?”
His response was classic. “They know who Jesus is, we just need to get them to say the prayer. If they got hit by a car tomorrow and didn’t say the prayer today they would go to Hell.” Now I agree, salvation comes to those who believe, but is it up to us to make people believe? Does saying a prayer that isn’t backed up by faith and lifestyle even count?
Big D and I continued to talk. “What about discipleship” I asked. “Discipleship? We are in a third world country” D said, “we don’t have time for discipleship. Discipleship is the job of the Holy Spirit, not us.” If you are fuming mad right now then welcome to my life. The difference was that I had to face this dude and have this conversation in the 100+ degree heat while people were coming out of the clinic for prayer.
During our conversation a lady came out and he sat her down and asked her if she was a Christian. “No” she said. Big D asked her if she wanted to become a Christian, to which she responded “yes.” So, D asked her to repeat after him. “Jesus, forgive my sins. Come into my life and save me. Amen.” After this D looked at me and said “thats how we do it.” Then I repeatedly round-house kicked him to the face, just kidding. After the amen the girl went downstairs to get her food and gift bag.
D and I continued debating this. He told me that he believed the most important thing is to get people to say the prayer. It didn’t really matter about discipleship or any of that, what mattered was the prayer. Throughout the day D got many people to say the prayer. I am sure he was counting how many people had come to the Lord. This is how I was when I was younger, but somewhere along the line that changed. Now I still believe with all my heart and being that in order to be saved you need to come to the knowledge that Jesus Christ is God’s son and the savior of the world. That He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life on earth and died and rose again to conquer sin and death. I believe this, but I also believe that following Jesus is a lifestyle, a relationship, not just a one time decision that is done through a 12 word prayer.
But then again, who am I to judge who is saved or not? It is the Holy Spirits job, but I believe that the Holy Spirit uses us in the lives of others. What are your thoughts on this? What are you feeling while reading this? How do you read the Bible in regards to coming to faith?
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