Almost two months passed since that tragic Virginia Tech shooting where a 33 lives were lost, yet memories are still troubling many. Recently I watched a student reflecting on his survival. He pretended to lie dead on a classroom floor. Saved by pretending?!
Would that work in Eternity’s perspective? Saved by pretending? Saved by doing certain things to appear certain way in order to be saved? This whole church experience is about being saved. Interacting with people daily I find that many are concerned about having hope, having future. Church comes to attention as a way of getting salvation. But often people in the church don’t look like being “safe” or “saved.” Many disagree with what it means “being saved.” Evangelicals use this term “saved” loosely where it is applied to anyone who accepted Jesus as Lord, anyone who call on the Name of the Lord, just as Acts 2:21 describes the early church experience.
Being saved was the main subject of conversation for disciples and early Christians. Mark 16:16 presents salvation as a result of believing and being baptized. Saved means deliverance from…. , redemption for …., reclaiming of ….., preserving through…... And it also means healing as a process of change, transformation, healing. In the days of Jesus people were healed/saved by faith. We are receiving God’s power while being saved. It is something that happened (Titus 3:4-7), is happening (1 Corinthians 1:18) and is yet to happen (Romans 5:9).
The Apostle Paul made the objective of all his ministry to communicate this Good News: “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God!” (Ephesians 2:8)
Are you saved? Have you been liberated from hold of sin, from hurts of past, from restraints of guilt, from debt? Jesus has certainly offered that and continues giving it freely. Are you saved from this world’s pain, trials, problems? Not until the process is over, not until the Lord comes to end all things. What are you saved from, for, through….? Churches are split over the meaning of this. Yet any of single definitions are heresy by themselves. It’s only when one considers broad, all-inclusive, comprehensive meaning of “saved” that the truth becomes complete.
The reason I want you to ponder these things is because it is our main purpose of coming together is to be saved together, as God wills for all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Luke 15 presents three parables about three aspects of Salvation and three roles of God as Savior. Jesus the Good Shepherd looking for a lost sheep who does not know she’s being lost, and will never be saved unless the Shepherd goes out. Coin being lost “in the house” and not thinking it’s being lost, until the light of the candle, the Holy Spirit, illumines it being “out-of place.” And then there is the Father, who son is lost, and is quite capable of returning into expecting embrace of the Loving Father, yet he meets a bitter brother who does not want to offer acceptance.
After all this “salvation” thing is all about relationships we have with the One that cares for us. It’s something we cannot make up, act up or pretend. That’s why Paul recommends to all “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) Can’t just pretend…..
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