Confusing Terminolgoy...

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how we guide people to Jesus. Mainly, I've been thinking a lot about how we "do" altar calls. We often provide the opportunity for people to invite Jesus into their hearts. I've done this several times in youth meetings, church services, and summer camps. When we make the altar call, we tell people to repent of their sins and ask Jesus into their hearts. But, is this whole idea of asking Jesus into our hearts Biblical???

In my studies, which aren't extremely intensive, I have yet to come across a passage of Scripture that tells us we need to ask Jesus into our hearts in order to be saved. I see Scriptures that call us to confess our sins. I see Scriptures that tell us to confess Christ as Lord. I see Scriptures that tell us to believe in our hearts. However, I haven't found any Scriptures that tell us to invite Jesus into our hearts.

Romans 10:9-10 , 13 says, "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved...For 'Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

We often try to complicate matters of ones salvations. We often try to make all these steps that one has to take in order to be saved. We have the Four Spiritual Laws and other evangelism techniques to save people. But, this passage makes it really simple...confess Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts...if we do this, we will be saved! To me, that is Good News.

Too often, I think we use too much terminology and make a mess of the whole process of salvation. We make these steps for people that just seems to be there to make us feel like there's something more to it. But, the Bible tells us to confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts. It doesn't say we have to invite Him in...I mean, really...doesn't that seem a bit absurd anyway. Do you think God needs an invitation? Scripture tells us that when we believe in Him, He will send a Counselor, His Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We don't have to make a formal invitation to have the Spirit come into our hearts...God does that work.

Anyway, I've just been thinking about how I've handled the whole process of salvation and the mess I've made of it. I think it's just human nature to complicate the simplicities of the Word. God tries to make it easy for us, and we try to make it difficult. That's why He is God and we are not!