Articles
God Can Destroy the Walls Preventing Your Salvation
I’m ecstatic that my oldest son Ty, age 12, chose to put on the Lord in baptism earlier this month. In subsequent conversations I’ve had with him, he said there were two main reasons he didn’t get baptized earlier.
First, he was terrified to stand up in front of everyone. Second, he felt he had to be perfect in order to be a Christian. All of us can relate to these concerns.
These two reasons were barriers between Ty and his salvation — walls, if you will. Until God caused those walls to fall down flat, victory was impossible for Ty. He had to push through the fear and trust in God to destroy those walls.
And so do we.
If you have never put on Christ in baptism, there’s a reason. Probably several. There are walls that stand between you and your salvation. They could be walls of doubt, walls of fear, walls of misunderstanding, walls of worldliness, or walls of complacency.
Let me suggest three steps you can take to destroy these walls and conquer the Evil One.
1. Identify your walls.
In other words, examine yourself and determine exactly why you haven’t yet become a Christian. Is it because of doubt? Fear? Misunderstanding? Worldliness? Complacency? A combination of the above? Be honest with yourself. Be specific.
2. Identify what you must do.
Clarify exactly what steps you would need to take to let God destroy each of those walls. If doubt is the problem, you will probably need to ask a knowledgeable Christian to study with you about those doubts. You will definitely need to pray fervently that God will give you faith. The answers are out there if you want to find them. If fear is the barrier, you may simply need to ask God for courage, and do it afraid. The fear almost certainly will not go away.
Continue thinking through each barrier until you know precisely what you must do, using the resources God has given you — the Bible, your brethren, prayer — to figure it out.
3. Take action!
Stop sitting on the sidelines, get on your feet and march around those walls. Face your fears and trust in God to make you adequate to do His will (2 Cor. 3:5). Don’t let anything stand between you and your salvation. God has promised victory if you will but trust in Him and obey His holy word.
