Blog # 183 Salvation Now

Blog # 183 Salvation Now We find many promises made by God in the Bible. By faith we know the absolute trustworthiness of God and that every promise made by God will be fulfilled. God's promise to send a redeemer, a Savior of all the world, has already been fulfilled in Jesus. Yet since Jesus was, is, and will be the Savior of all, the promise of God to send Him was made to all and will be fulfilled for all. In other words it is not something past alone, but is now, and will be as long as history continues. It is something already fulfilled and yet not fulfilled completely. In each of us who believe, the promise of Salvation in Jesus has been fulfilled. Yet if we are still on earth this afternoon and tomorrow that promise will continue to be fulfilled this afternoon and tomorrow. We are constantly being invited and called by God to be more aware of, to understand more fully, and to appreciate more deeply the promise of salvation personally. A problem is we may not be in the habit of reflecting this way, and religious questions are not a large part of our everyday agenda. The experience of faith if it is an experience at all for some, might produce prayers of petition in time of need. In the lives of others the primary work of faith is the work of building the earth rather than building our personal relationship with God, and through this relationship building God's work of justice and peace on earth. God certainly can and should indeed be found in the work of establishing justice and peace on earth and in all of creation. Yet to leave our discovery and response to God for a single hour each week on Sunday would seem to be for me to dream an impossible dream, to fight a losing battle in the secular culture in which we live today. So if we are serious about personally receiving and fulfilling God's promise of salvation in Jesus we should be looking for and discovering additional reminders of that promise and insights into its meaning for us personally. I will share with you here a few examples of such opportunities I have found for this in my everyday experience of life. Perhaps they will be useful for you in discovering your own. A mail box has as its purpose or identity to receive the mail. It is waiting until the mail comes to be its complete self. Some of the water coming from the local reservoir will cook my potatoes. It is waiting for me to open the faucet and let it out. A door is waiting to be opened. A taxi, a birthday cake, an expectant mother, a parking meter, a pencil, a saw hanging in the garage, all are waiting to be what they were made to be. Our world is in need of someone to teach us how to live in peace and joy. Jesus, with divine wisdom and goodness, was sent for this. God has promised it. His promise will be fulfilled when and whenever we discover it and believe in it.

Blog # 80 SALVATION NOW

Blog # 80 SALVATION NOW Think for a moment of the fate of the millions of notices that are sent through the mail announcing a particular contest or drawing. Many of them are never opened by the people to whom they are addressed and are thrown into the wastebasket at the Post Office or at home. Some are opened and read, an intention made to send it back and enter the drawing but time passes and it is forgotten or put aside. The deadline for the drawing passes and the opportunity to win the prize is gone. Other entries are completed and returned. Another mailing comes telling us the good news that a valuable prize is ours. It is somewhat like this with the Good News of salvation, but also very much different. Some people receive the invitation to believe and never open it. Either they are too busy or too interested in other pursuits to give the Gospel a chance to influence their lives. They never seriously consider whether not not Jesus is God, whether or not He could have a personal relationship with them, whether or not His Good News of faith and salvation is addressed to them personally and could be theirs today if they so desired. As far as they are concerned there might as well not have been a lucky drawing. For them it is not real. The life death and resurrection of Jesus can be unreal, a nonentity, for someone who does not give it a thought. Some other people hear the Good News of His love and intend to do something about it but they keep getting distracted, putting it off, waiting until tomorrow, until all their tomorrows have turned to yesterdays and the time for believing is over, and the time of judgment, the time to reveal the score of the game of our lives has come. Wouldn't it be sad if someone died yesterday who intended to believe in Jesus today?