What Must We Do To Be Saved?

Every now and then, we run across a verse that encapsulates the message of Christianity so succinctly it makes us wonder why we were ever confused in the first place. I ran across an instance today in Acts 16, which describes how Paul and Barnabas were jailed and an earthquake caused all the prison doors to open. Fearing that all the prisoners had escaped, the guard was about to kill himself when Paul stopped him. At that point, the guard asked in Acts 16:30:

  

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 

 

To which Paul and Barnabas answered:

 
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 

Pretty  simple stuff. We can save ourselves plenty of time going to church, reading the Bible and any other form of attempting to educate ourselves about Christianity by remembering that simple verse. It IS that simple--living it is the difficult part. It begs the question--what does it really mean to "believe in the Lord"?

First, it would mean that we live the words that Christ spoke instead of just learning them. Knowing the speed limit is 70 while going 95 won't impress the officer than pulls you over, and knowing the Bible and blithely ignoring everything it tells you to do is worse than useless, but instead pathologically dangerous. Second, it would mean that our Christianity would be obvious, not in an ostentatious manner, but in a quiet dignity that only a blessed assurance can give. Third, it would make our Christian striving much easier, since we wouldn't be  constantly searching out "what the Lord would have me do"--if you believe, the Holy Spirit will indwell in you and make it pretty clear.

As I wrote yesterday, we would all be much better off if we focused all our efforts on understanding  Christianity on ourselves, since if we all did it, we wouldn't need anyone else to tell us what to do. Paul and Barnabas told the prison guard what to do to save him and his household--they didn't tell him to preach throughout his neighborhood and save everyone there. Martin Luther intended the Catechism to be taught by the head of the family; indeed, the entire Reformation was predicated on the notion of removing man-made barriers between God and man. The prison guard's simple question is the one that we're all asking to this day, and the simple answer is the only one we'll ever need. Take that time you would have wasted in searching for that answer and use it instead to live a life of thanksgiving because of that answer.
Scott