I've often been challenged by doubters and atheists regarding GOD's promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. Their argument has been, if all one has to do is accept and believe in Christ before they die and all their sins will be forgiven, whats to keep one from living a life of intentional sin, knowing this? First of all, if they believe this, then they already believe in Christ. If they already believe but continue to commit intentional sins, then they are purposely acting against GOD and their defiance will be held against them on the final day.

Believing in Jesus is more than announcing so, it comes with certain expectations from GOD, in my opinion. As Peter wrote in his first letter, "So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander." There
are character changes that have to be met in order to be considered a true believer in the eyes of our Holy Father. Those who have presented me with the above argument, propose that GOD can be tricked into granting salvation but what they don't understand is that GOD hears whats in our hearts, more than what comes out of our mouths.

Believing in Christ is more than a statement but its an acceotance of His way of life, an adoption of His character set before us when he walked among us. To believe in Jesus means to do our best to imitate His life. Be honest, humble, gentle and kind. When Jesus was questioned about certain food defiling the body by the Pharisees, he told them that what enters the body through the mouth cannot defile it but what comes out of the mouth can. Malice, deceit, slander, hypocrisy and envy is in our hearts and manifests through our mouths defiling our spirits.

Its a tall order to imitate Jesus life on earth as He was oerfect in the eyes of our Lord but by putting forth my best effort to have a kind and gentle heart and to speak no ill, demonstrates my commitment to a life according to HIS' will. I will stumble at times for I am imperfect but I will do my best to ensure that whats in my heart is according to Jesus' Word and His teachings, as well as try to do good works. If I do so, GOD will judge me as a true believer and thats whats important to me.