It is amazing how many doctrines found in the Christian churches emphasize that the convert has only to believe what God has done, is doing, and shall do in the future. To this naked belief, praise is sometimes added. Believe and praise—this is all you are required to do in order to please God.

No such doctrine is found in the Scriptures. From Old Testament to New we are commanded to choose continually whom we shall serve, and then to serve the master of our choice, whether it be God or sin.

The Kingdom of God would not be formed even if everyone on earth were to believe and praise God. The will of God is not done until we enter daily interaction with Jesus Christ, giving Him our whole personality each day and night. Only through daily interaction with Jesus Christ, obeying the written Word and also when He speaks to us personally, do we arrive at the various objectives of the great goal of salvation.

There absolutely is no substitute for such diligent application to Jesus Christ and His commandments, and those of His Apostles.

The mainspring of the Christian salvation is our death with Christ and our resurrection with Him. This is a position we are to take by faith and maintain by faith. When we do so, and then seek the Lord each day and meditate continually in His Word, the Holy Spirit will make our death with Christ a reality and our resurrection with Christ a reality.

The Gospels, the Book of Acts, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation—all inform us of what we are to do.

When Joshua received the mantle of authority to lead the Israelites into the land of promise, the Lord commanded him to pay careful attention to the Law that Moses had written.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8—NIV)

The above verse was given to me by the Navigators when I first became a Christian. The Navigators, including Dawson Trotman, impressed on all of us new Christians the utter importance of adhering strictly to the words of the Bible, to memorize them, to hide them away in our heart so we would not sin against God.

Today we see that God's people are running here and there looking for new experiences, some new exciting way in which to be blessed of God apart from the years of patient, cross-carrying obedience.

Sometimes it indeed is helpful for there to be an arena of excitement in which the faith of people can be elevated so they can gain a new grip upon God. But if this initial awareness is not soon directed into patient discipleship, a patient meditating in the Scriptures accompanied by daily seeking of the Lord, then the merciful grace given on the exciting occasion will wear off and the believer will find himself back in the same bondages that have never been overcome.

The true salvation of God, the true path to eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ, is found only in reading the Bible and then praying for grace, for wisdom and power to do what we have been commanded.

The gate is small and the way is filled with resistance of all kinds. But there simply is no other path, no easy shortcut to eternal life! (from Your Role in Your Salvation)