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Posts Tagged ‘salvation’

Saved from What?

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 23, 2009| 2 Comments »

Acts 16:30
He [the jailer] then brought them [Paul & Silas] out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Paul, Silas, and the other prisoners could have escaped when the “earthquake” came, their prison doors opened, and their chains came loose. The jailer was about to commit suicide when Paul called out to stop him. Why was the jailer about to fall on his sword? He knew, like the guards who were killed when Peter miraculously escaped, that he would be flogged and probably killed. He feared for his own life.

I believe the jailer was asking about being saved from his fate at the hands of the magistrates. He did not expect the answer to be “faith in Christ Jesus.”

I used to dislike this question, “Are you saved?” I’d heard too many people answer, “saved from what?” And then the typical “Christian” response was “saved from eternal damnation… hell, fire & brimstone.” But really, if a person doesn’t believe or know about the Christ, is he or she going to be concerned about hell?

No, I believe a person who is truly ready to be “saved” will know what that word means in his/her own life. There will be no need for explanation. In fact, like the jailer, the person may be looking for a solution. It could be a need for salvation from physical illness or anticipated physical harm, or a crushing emotional situation, or a dire mistake that might place the person in jail, or a relationship that has gone bad, or futility or despair or fear… any of these will bring a person to the brink of struggle and need.

There is no point throwing a life preserver to someone who’s not in the water. Sometimes a person needs to be drowning before he/she will ask for help. Sometimes a person knows he/she can’t swim and asks for help right away. Another person, who knows how to swim, will try to swim to shore first, but then grow very tired and weak before asking for help. Does it matter when the moment comes?

I imagine that Jesus knew and recognized those “saving” moments in the people he touched. As followers of Christ, we must learn to recognize and respond to the signals. It is part of the helping profession to offer assistance but no one usually accepts help until he/she is ready.

In the meantime, what is my role? Walk and love authentically among the people. Be available and ready to help. Tell my story. Be in the moment. Go to the drowning places. There’s no point walking around with a life preserver if we never go near the water.

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Opposing God

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on November 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 11:17
“So if God gave them [gentiles] the same gift as he gave us [Jews], who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I [Peter] to think that I could oppose God?”

How often do we make judgments against others? How often do we doubt that God can touch a life? How often do we assume that we have “it” right and the others do not?

If we didn’t doubt, we would be telling our story every day. We would be loving everyone whose life path crossed our own. We would love as Jesus loved.

One would think I’d get this right by now. After all, I was once on the other side of the story.

After I accepted Christ as my guide and my King, my savior and my redeemer, I returned to acting school in New York (I was in my brother’s home for the holiday). As people began to hear about my conversion experience, I was told quite bluntly (and more than once): “You? You are the last person that I would ever expect to become a Christian.” My life was so depraved that no one imagined that I could change. My language was peppered with swearing; I really doubt there was one sentence I could say without some form of f**k, sh*t, or any of the other expletives, be they verbs, adjectives, adverbs or nouns. I was a regular drug and alcohol user. I was active sexually. I even worked as a bookkeeper in a place where I kept two sets of records. I was a liar and a thief. I justified my behaviors easily because I was totally self-absorbed.

There were some things that actually did change overnight but there were many other lifestyle habits that did not. Was I any less a believer or lover of Jesus?

I can see now that it was the Holy Spirit who was my patient teacher. And I am learning that it’s not about “being” a Christian by following the laws or rules. Instead, it’s about walking on the Way, a process of integrating the kingdom of God into my heart, mind, soul, and eventually, my daily life. The Bible can open the door but it is the body of believers who walk through it together that changes lives.

A young woman who was in one of my bible studies once asked me if I really believed that a Democrat could be a Christian. And I say yes, because God is not limited by political agendas, sin, violence, or religious dogma. God can touch anyone, teach anyone, love everyone. Who am I to oppose God?

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Save the World

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 3:17 (Amplified edition)
For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

How many of us have forgotten that the Son didn’t come just “to save” us as individuals but for the sake of the world. Just like the world in the time of Noah, we have been on a crash course for ruin. And everything has suffered: the animals, the landscape, the oceans, the weather, the children … everything. So God sent his “only Son” to make a supreme sacrifice so that the law of sowing and reaping could be nullified for anyone who believed in Him. This process is not just so you and I can go to “heaven” when we give our bodies back to the Earth. This “deal” was made for the whole world. This was a supernatural transaction.

Those of us who have believed are in the recovery business…. recovering that which has been lost.
We are in the lighting business… shining in the dark places.
We are in the food business… bringing savor (salt) to the tasteless.
We are in the hydro business… bringing streams of water to the dry places.
We are in the messenger business… bringing the good news that the Kingdom of God is near.

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