To Save part 4
Salvation. It means a lot of things to a lot of people. But to me, as I meditate on Jesus and why He came, I find that linking two verses together really helps me put it together. First, our key verse for this (and the previous) Rant series. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). And as far as I'm concerned, it's the "that which was lost" part that shines light--the light of the world--on the subject. He didn't come to save that which was damned. He didn't come to save us from hell. He came to save us from our sins. He came to save us from BEING LOST. From unbelief. From believing the lie that says we have to do in order to be. And that brings me to my other verse. "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). He came to seek and to save that which was lost. And He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Being lost doesn't mean you're on the highway to hell. It means you're dead. See, Jesus didn't come to make "evil" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. He came that we might have life. REAL life. HIS life. Abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. And that's what He gave us when He saved us. He gave His life FOR us, but He also gave His life TO us. He became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. He cast death and hell into the lake of fire--which is God. God is the consuming fire--He died so that we could do. So that we could be dead to sin. He told us (and showed us) the truth so that we could stop believing the lie. And He IS the truth. LOVE is the truth. A loving heavenly Father and His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. That's what everlasting life IS. Love is what makes the abundant life... abundant. Knowing who God really is is what let's us know who we really are. And when we know who we really are (Jesus: God in the flesh, love in a body) we can stop trying to be someone we're not. We can stop with the works and labor--that don't work--and we can start to rest. We can stop looking for love in all the wrong places. We can stop trying to GET something, and we can start sharing what we have. Once we understand that we are connected to the source of love, the God who IS love, we can let that love fill us to overflowing and we can love others as Jesus loves us. We can, in a sense, save others... because Jesus saved us. We can open the eyes of the blind. We can remit people's sins. We can set people free. We can stop seeking for something we think we don't have, and we can stop trying to save ourselves. We can start sharing what we do have because JESUS sought us out and saved us. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all. Now we can enjoy what we've got. Share what we've got. Now we can truly live a life of love. Being loved and loving others. Saved, or made whole, in every aspect of our lives. And filled to overflowing so that it gets all over everyone we come into contact with!