"Plainly Recognized" - To

 "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Hebrews 9:26 KJV)

  "For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." (Titus 2:11-14 NLT)

 There was something else I remember that might have been the reason for those times when I would feel as though I needed to get saved again, it was a night, maybe around a week or two after I first asked Jesus into my heart; one of the Officers at the facility was giving us a Wednesday Night Study, sharing about the Scripture we find in Psalm 103:12, which says: "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west." 

 After reading that verse, he described what that looked like, and how the Scripture said, east and west, not, north and south, illustrating the globe as if we were to go north to south, we would always be going to two different directions; but, by going east to west, we would always be going west. Then after giving this illustration, he said, "But you can always turn back to your sins and start walking east." 

 This is not just something that caused me to doubt my security in Christ, every time I sinned; but it made me feel as though I needed salvation again; which as we will see soon enough, is something absolutely wrong and impossible! Jesus died once and for all, and His death on that cross only needed to be performed once; so too, we are only born again once! 

 That doesn't mean we shouldn't rededicate our lives to Christ, whenever we might slip away, because I believe that is something needed, especially in a public church setting, where you are recommitting your life to the Lord, and illustrating the healing of being broken. Which is the primary reason the Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, because they were going to be cleansed, but their feet would surely sometimes get dirty. 

 Maybe that doesn't make much sense to you, as to the fact of east verses west; but that whole thing about walking east again, is the whole point; if you continue always going to the west, you remain totally clean, but going back to the east, you're going to need a little cleansing! There is something else I observed about the illustration of going east, instead of west: this direction of east to west might not charge are direction, but going west to east will make us see a new day every morning... 

"Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously." (Isaiah 55:6-7 NLT)