By Sherry Wisseman

When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. (Ezek. 33:18)

I attended a funeral recently and I sat and listened carefully to the message that was given. It is rare that a funeral has a message of anything other than the soul being in Heaven. But the sad reality is that not every soul that leaves this earth is Heaven bound.

There are religious bodies who believe “once saved, always saved”. They believe that if you were ever saved, regardless of how you lived your last days/years, you will be saved when your earthly body dies but we know that’s not true. Christians have the grace of God to fill the gap between our true efforts and what we fall short of and we can count on that grace. He is a merciful God and He loves us. But if we blatantly turn from God’s word and ignore what He has taught us, we cannot count on an eternal life with Him.

Ezekial 33:18 tells us “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.” God wishes for no one to die, however He is very specific as to what is required of us if we are to live an eternity with Him.

On the other side, the good news is that “if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so”. Ezekial 33:19

We cannot live by “once saved always saved” if we truly search the scriptures for the truth.

Lord, help me to live each day for you, doing just and good things, putting away evil and wickedness in exchange for goodness and righteousness.