The crowd was finally thinning out after the last night of the Billy Graham crusade in Cincinnati some years back. I was standing on the football field, looking up at my daughter and her girlfriend, who were leaning over the railing of the first row to chat with me. Her, friend, whom we'd known since Kindergarden, had often posed questions about her faith. This day, although
she'd enjoyed Billy Graham, she "just didn't like the way they said 'saved,' " as in, we could be 'saved' by knowing Jesus.
And since then, I've met other people, either seekers, or from liturgical churches, who will say, "I don't know if I'd say I'm 'saved' but I go to church and I believe in God."
Whatever the discomfort with the word itself, it makes perfect sense for any believer to use it, or a seeker to be curious about it.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph named his son, "Jesus," or "Joshua" meaning "Yahweh saves" or..God Saves. This, after the angels are quoted in Luke as having said, "...there is born to you this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
What is the object of one who saves...but those who are...saved.
How does that come to be, that we are 'saved' from our natural tendencies of sin by the "Savior" who came to redeem us?
Most everyone has seen the quote from John's Gospel, "John 3:16." If you've never read it, I encourage you to find a Bible, turn to the Gospel of John, chapter three, verse 16 and read it.
But it's the next verse, verse 17, spoken by the Savior Jesus, that explains his own mission,
"For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."
"He who believes," Jesus says, "is not condemned." vs. 18
Why would you believe in Jesus as your savior, and so be saved?
Why not?
Please read the rest of the Gospel of John and then consider...
What do you believe?
