Michael,

As a father of 3 myself I know you are very thankful for your daughters' decision to live for Christ.

Concerning your question of "Are we paid for, or are we still on the installment plan? ", here's my understanding of that according to what I see in the scriptures, I know there will be some who disagree with my view and hold to the "Once saved, always saved" doctrine. I hope they are right but just as a "Fire Insurance Policy" I'm trying to live by the following.

We know there are no powers, principalities or anything else which can separate us from the love of God. Romans 8:38 & 39.

Christ himself told us in Luke 9:62 that "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Again in II Peter 2:20-21 we are warned about the danger of having known Christ's ways and turning from them.

Even knowing to do good and not doing it is sin according to James 4:17.

Remember that Peter, the apostle who told Jesus the Christ that he loved him, was told by Christ that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed. And the loving apostle Peter did just that. But when Peter realized what he had done he went out and wept bitterly, i.e. he repented, big time!!! Luke 22:61-62

God has slapped me up side the head with the proverbial 2X4 a few times also and I thank him that he did, that lets me know that he still loves me. Psalms 23; "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me".

The bottom line as I see it Michael is that we are paid for, there is nothing we can do to pay our debt for what He has done for us. And yes, we all sin, either by something bad which we do or by not doing something good which we knew we should have done. So how do we get those blotted out?

I John 1:9 tells us "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And that's not just saying it with our mouth but from the heart as Peter did!

Sometimes I envision God as holding me in His "Allstate Hands" except with God he'll never relax that hold and let me fall. However if I climb up on the edge and get to admiring all the "beautiful women and fast cars" down here which Satan is tempting us with there is the posibility of me falling. So the safe thing to do is stay in the center of His will (cupped hands)and not on the outer rim of His permissive will. Eternity is a long time to spend where there is weeping, wailing, the gnashing of teeth and no water to drink.

May God bless you and your family as you attempt to raise them to be God fearing young ladies!

Although I don't approve of people taking eternal security as a "license to sin",I have my doubts about a salvation that requires one to "renew" the holy covenant every second because he has transgressed or let some good deed go undone.

Would we condone a marriage arrangement that dissolved whenever someone left the seat up,forgot an anniversary,failed to offer a backrub or give words of comfort and encouragement?

What would we think of a parent who disowned the child who had a messy room or couldn't *quite* manage to spend the summer doing mission work AND hold down a job?

We accept the fact that the people in our lives are finite and fallible.

Only one person was perfect without sins of omission or comission.

(Even He and His Father's side of the family couldn't pull off *appearing* flawless.)

Although Christ had the advantage of having the standards for perfection based on who and what He was anyway,that wasn't enough to earn Him the approval of every person every minute.

If perfect strength and perfect understanding can't succeed at a "works" system,how can the rest of us manage to maintain a complete and unblemished existence?

We will do things we know are wrong willingly and unwillingly.

We will be too clueless to recognize every area in which we can make mistakes.

We could spend every waking hour performing good deeds at the highest possible level yet for every blessed act we do,an uncountable number go undone.

If we could stay saved through our own power,could we not get saved the same way?

Instead,we are cleansed by grace and our second birth can no more be undone by our limitations than the first.

The less evil we do and the more we act as God would have us live,the richer and stronger our salvation is.

In our mortal relationships,love and committment sustain our bonds to one another.

In our relationship to God,the same applies.

He takes our weakness and gives us His strength.

We can falter or walk away from our kinship but God's nature compensates for our own.

As we mature and grow more like Him,He has to do less and less to help us fulfill our duties.

We will even begin to take on some of His work and act in His name with His authority.

But,we'll never be so poweful or so savvy that we can do without Him as back-up.

We can be grateful that we won't be asked to go it alone,either.

We are joint-heirs with the Lord and so long as we draw on the Father's unlimited grace (and the Son and Holy Spirit keep replenishing our source with their goodness),the debt we owe for our sins will never deplete our spiritual account.

Instead,our ledger appears as if we never incurred that debt and what we might gain by our own virtue merely makes us that much richer.

Indeed,we prosper most when we add our resources to Heaven's principle and think less about what we may have earned or the high cost of our fallen nature and more about what we can offer to relieve the bankrupt souls around us.

For all our flaws,God loves us because He made us and redeemed us.

His hands are not so constricting that we are in danger of being crushed but He makes a point of holding us securely.

He is the loving Father who supports us in a manner that assures us we are safe.

As much as we might wiggle and wriggle out of curiousity and a desire for freedom,we won't have the option of falling.

In His embrace,we can reach any heights and soar as far and fast as any eagle.

We may not be flying under our own power but we can touch Heaven while His feet remain firm upon the ground.

this is their wishes.

thanks to all!