Patience means Salvation

Q: "1. Does God ever grow tired of people who sin and gives up on them? 2. If a person is living a sinful life and you don`t believe that they can be saved without a willing spirit can God intervene through prayer for that person?"

A: God never grows tired and gives up on people who sin? If I may be so bold as to say, God's patience ends when we die. Everybody, Christian and unbeliever alike, sin up until the time they pass away. One of the attributes of love is patience. And there is no greater example of patience than what is found in God's longsuffering for mankind. In 2 Peter it says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)." Every time we sin it should remind us of how much God loves us. You may ask, "Why should we be thankful for our sin?" We should be thankful because our sins are so terrible in the site of God that they deserve death. And it is Jesus Christ that died in our place so that we would be spared that penalty. This is not to say that we should seek out sin so as to have more reminders of God's love. But, the only way to see a diminishing of the sins in our life is to realize that our sins are no longer separating us from God.

Now that the barrier of sin that once separated us from God has been removed, in Christ, we are free to "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16)." The death of Jesus Christ is so powerful that the effect of it is twofold. For those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, having had the life of God restored to them through His resurrection, there is now no sin that will cause His life to leave us. That is why the life we have is an eternal life. It is a life that will carry us through the rest of our natural lives, through death and on into eternity. For the unbeliever the death of Jesus Christ allows them to come to God through faith in Christ, to receive His offer of life, because their sins are not preventing them from doing so. And in that life they receive forgiveness as an inheritance because of their faith.

God is not surprised by a person when they sin. "We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one... (Romans 3:9-10)." To suggest that no one can be saved because they are "living a sinful life" is to imply that someone could outsin the forgiveness of God or that, perhaps, Jesus didn't die for all the sins of the world. Each individual is accountable to God. Nobody will be able to go before God, although some might try, and say to Him that they sinned too much to be saved. Because we know that God wants all mankind to repent of their unbelief in Christ, and accept His offer of salvation, our prayers for God to "intervene" on their behalf are understandable. However, our prayers will not change an individuals free will to choose nor do they make God change their will. The Apostle Paul loved his Jewish brethren so much that he exclaimed, "I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel (Romans 9:3-4)." It is up to each individual to respond to the evidence God has already revealed to us through the light of our conscience, His creation and, ultimately, in Jesus Christ. And God can use each believer as a witness to share with others the evidence that has convinced us to place saving faith in Christ.

If you think about it, when did the average Christian come to faith in Christ? For most of us we accepted Christ when we were at the end of our ropes either mentally, physically, financially or spiritually. And we probably got to that point after "living a sinful life" or suffering because of the sins others perpetrated against us. Very few people are thinking about God, at least in the sense of their need for salvation, when life seems to be going their way. But, nearly everybody starts thinking about Him when times are rough. Our present economic situation has left many people without jobs, without homes or the basic ability to care for themselves and their loved ones. I am sure many of them are calling out to God in one form or another. It is times like these that strip us of our self reliance and reveal to us that we are really not in control of anything. It is at these times, when we are at the end of our rope, that God wants us to let go of that rope and fall into His loving Hands. "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation...(2 Peter 3:15)" While many people spend the bulk of their time trying to gain the world, they are in jeopardy of losing their soul. However, God is patient enough to allow them reap what they sow in an effort that it will convince them that what they seek from the world can only be found in Him.