Not the Kid Who Walked In

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:9 (NIV)

When I was nine years old, I walked into a theater one person and walked out another. Someone had radically changed my life. I have sinned a lot since then, and I have shamed the Lord more than a few times. But the kid who walked out of that theater was not the kid who walked in. That's what genuine conversion looks like. It's not perfect performance, but transformed direction.

Jesus draws the line in Matthew 7:21, and He draws it clearly. It is not by the words you say, or by the works you do. It is by the will you obey. Fruit is not a prerequisite to salvation, but it is a byproduct of it. When the root is real, the fruit eventually shows up.

So the question to sit with right now is, Is there something God has already made clear to you that you keep stepping around? Not something vague, but something specific. It could be the relationship you know isn't right or a habit you've justified long enough. Maybe it’s a step of faith you've been putting off for months. 

You don't take that step to earn anything. You take it because, when you’ve been genuinely changed, you want to live like it. Let the direction of your life be the evidence that your mouth can't fake.

The evidence isn't a perfect record. It's a life that keeps moving in one direction…toward Him.

Prayer: Father, I want my life to show what my heart says is true. Show me one thing I've been stepping around, and give me the courage to move toward You, Lord. I want to be the real deal, and not just say it. In Jesus' name, Amen.