Cheating Salvation

There’s been a recent phenomenon sweeping through the academic scene–especially among college students. I’m sure some of you might have already heard about this phenomenon.

They’re called essay mills.

Riding The Cheat Wagon

You may be wondering: Okay, what are essay mills?

Essay mills are basically businesses where customers (ideally college students) would be able to contact other people and get them to write papers for them. So, for example, let’s say a guy named Luke might need to do a paper for biology. But Luke is very bad at writing–so what does he do? He may contact an essay mill company, get in touch with one of the employees, and then pay that employee to write his biology paper for him.

It’s that simple–yet so sinful.

Cheat Wagons Don’t Fit The Narrow Way

While paying someone to write essays for you may work in this sinful world of ours, it doesn’t work in the plan of salvation. What do I mean by that?
Well, let’s let Paul answer that question with what he wrote to the church in Phillipi:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
(Philippians 2:12)

In the Study Notes section of my Andrews Study Bible, it gives this little bit of commentary on what Philippians 2:12 means:

“Without looking for help from any authority figure.“

How does this apply to us?

When it comes to experiencing salvation; when it comes to tasting and seeing God’s goodness (Psalm 34:8); when it comes to truly KNOWING God on a PERSONAL level–you can’t cheat.
You CAN NOT cheat salvation!

When it comes to having a conversion experience, you can’t just contact someone to “write it out” for you like an essay mill! You need to work it out yourself! You need to have an experience with God FOR YOURSELF! You need to PERSONALLY KNOW God to be good, and not just depend on what other people say about God’s goodness.

I mean, the verse says to “work out YOUR OWN salvation,” not “let the pastor work out your salvation.” I like how this modern translation puts it:

“So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].”
(Philippians 2:12 AMP)

We’re called to be active in our salvation. To grow in a PERSONAL, LIFE-CHANGING heart knowledge of God and His love–not just mediocre, cold head knowledge. As David said, we need to “taste and see” (Psalm 34:8) that God is good, that God is loving, that God is caring, and that God is all that our hearts truly need.
We need to TASTE Him.
We need to SEE Him.
We need to KNOW Him.
We need to EXPERIENCE Him.

A Hope Mill

Although it’s true that we can’t have our salvation worked out for us like a paper at an essay mill, I wanna point out that there’s a different kind of mill we can go to. A mill where we can finally find that personal, deep experience with God and His loving goodness. While it doesn’t work out our salvation FOR us, it does however, GIVES us the basic source of salvation. This mill is a hope mill. And it is found on a hill called Calvary. Listen to this statement by one of my favorite writers, Ellen White, in her book The Acts of the Apostles:

“It was the cross, that instrument of shame and torture, which brought hope and salvation to the world.”

–{The Acts of the apostles page 77, emphasis added

The cross is our hope mill! The cross is where true conversion begins! The cross is where personally knowing God starts! The cross is the primary foundational pillar of hope, salvation, and heart-transformation!

A Prayer Ride To The Hope Mill

Dear reader, I wanna appeal to you to come to the cross and find true salvation, true hope, and true conversion there. If it’s your desire, dear reader, to come and kneel down at the cross and experience a deeper heart transformation then ever before, I appeal to you to just pray:

I’d like to conclude this blog post with a verse you may claim along with the above prayer. It’s a verse that assures us that God is ever willing to give us a new heart that’s filled with His love, peace, hope, and joy:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.“
(Ezekiel 36:26-27)

May each and every one of us spend time at the hope mill–the cross–and gain a new conversion experience and a new heart filled with the Holy Spirit every day!
Amen! Maranatha!