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“For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:14 (NIV)

Before I became a Christian, I believed whole-heartedly that there were many ways to God—different paths, each as valid as the next. In fact, I was so vehement that I designed a logo representing it and had it tattooed onto my body. Now, that’s commitment.

But, thankfully, the Lord was leading me to the Truth. And, after three decades of going to church (because my “path” was Catholicism), I heard the Gospel for the first time. I truly understood that through Jesus, my sins were paid, and I was made righteous in the eyes of a God that requires perfection.

Even after I heard the Truth, I questioned God…surely, He wouldn’t condemn all those Baha’i, Buddhists, and Muslims who are just as passionate about their path to Heaven. How could Christianity be so narrow-minded? Couldn’t there still be many ways to God?

So, on the front steps of my newfound church, I asked that question of the pastor. And he explained a simple, profound truth: Within all the world religions, people must work to earn heaven—they must pursue “good enough” by their own efforts and deeds. No so with Christianity. By what He accomplished on the cross, Jesus Christ paid in full the cost of eternal life with God. There’s nothing we can do to earn it or be good enough. We are sinners, and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:23).

Jesus paid our debt, stamping it, “Paid in Full”—we owe nothing…and everything. In fact, when Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished,” the original word equates with a debt being satisfied.

Others do and do and do, never to be perfected. Christians, however, have been made perfect and holy because He paid it all for us. It’s done. We don’t have work for our salvation—and fail repeatedly. Instead, in response to what Christ did, we do good—not to earn but in grateful response.

So, I added the word Teleo to my “tattoo testimony.” It translates from Greek into, “I am complete.”

“Lord, thank you for paying a debt I could never pay on my own—for the gift of salvation. May I respond by sharing this amazing news with others to free them from the trap of ‘doing enough’.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life