To Save part 2
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Us, in other words. We were lost. Which doesn't mean damned. It doesn't mean we were on the highway to hell and had to do something ourselves to get off it. It means we didn't know where we were. Or who we were. Or why we were created. So Jesus came. And when He came we weren't even looking for Him. We were hiding from His presence because we thought He was mad at us. We were sinners (unbelievers) and that's WHY Jesus came. To save us from our sins. To save us from unbelief. To show us that God's not mad AT us, He's mad ABOUT us. To show us who we are, and where we are, and why we're here, by showing us who HE is. Revelation is not about figuring God out. It's about letting God reveal Himself (get it) to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. It's not about seeking Him, but understanding that He sought--and found--us. Remember in Song of Solomon? Draw me, and we will run to you. Jesus said, "For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up" (John 6:44 NLT). We can't come to Him unless He draws us. We can't love until we understand that He first loved us. We can't save ourselves. But He saved us. Look at what Jesus cried out on the cross--and I believe He was talking about the people who we physically there crucifying Him, but I also believe He was talking about all of humanity-- "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do..." (Luke 23:34). We were trying to do the best we could with what we had, but we didn't KNOW what we had so we didn't know what we were doing. Trying to save ourselves by keeping a Law that could not be kept. Trying to earn something that can't be earned. The GIFT of God is eternal life, and a gift can't be earned. It can only be freely given, and received. We call Jesus our Saviour, and yet we think salvation comes from US doing something. We still seem to think that if we could just eat enough fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil we could do good and stop doing evil. Then we'd be accepted. We still seem to think that what we be comes from what we do. But that's backwards. What we do flows from who we be. We don't work in order to get saved. We work because we ARE saved. And because we ARE saved we work from a posture of rest. Faith without works is dead, but that's because faith compels you to share what you've got. Receive it... and release it. Recieve it BY releasing it. We were lost. Stumbling around in the dark with the blind leading the blind. And then Jesus sought us out and saved us... from being lost. He shined His light and showed us that we ARE that light. He loved us, so that we could love Him, and love each other. Love Him BY loving each other. And to me, more than anything else, that's what salvation is. We have been saved from our sins. Saved from the lie that says we have to do in order to be. Saved from the lie that says we are unworthy of love, and have to earn it! Daddy loves us. And knowing this empowers us to love. To live!