Protestants see salvation as a point in time event resulting from a personal commitment of faith in Christ; a personal surrender of ones life to Christ.  Most Protestants can tell you the date they made that commitment.  They refer to it as the day they were “saved.”  To them, being a Christian means giving control of their lives to Christ; doing life His way, rather than their own way.   Once they are “saved,” they read the Bible and pray in order to grow in Christ. 

Years before my conversion to the Catholic faith, I made a personal commitment to Christ.  In fact, it was that personal commitment that made it possible for me to surrender to Christ, leave the Baptist tradition and cross the Tiber.  God lead me in the wilderness more than forty years to test my willingness to do things His way before He lead me across the river and into the arms of Holy Mother Church. 

I’ve been on this side of the river for three and a half years now and I’ve come to know a wide variety of Catholics.  We come in every shape, size and color.  But in reality there are only two kinds of Catholics. 

There are Catholics who have grown up in the faith but have never taken a long, hard look at Jesus on the crucifix and seen the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world dying for them personally.  They practice the rites and rituals but never allow the Holy Spirit to open their eyes and show them that every word of the Liturgy and every sacramental sign is the love and mercy of the Father through the Son reaching out to them.  They have never made unconditional surrender of their lives to the God who loves them more than life. 

Then there are those Catholics who have the best of both worlds.  The grace of the sacraments and the fullness of the truth have been met with the unconditional surrender of their will to the will of God.  Eager cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit allows God to make them partakers of the divine nature. 

A surrendered Catholic (or a serious Catholic per Catholic Answers) knows and adheres to the teachings of the Church because they know by faith that Christ has always and continues to lead His Church into all truth.  They know He will never fail at His promise.  Therefore, submission to Christ means submission to His Church. 

Who is on the throne of your life?  Who or what does your world revolve around?  Take a long look at the crucifix.  There the Son of God gives His all for you.  Have you given your all to Him?