Saved.
What a word.
I'm writing this now, because I've thought long and hard about "salvation." 'What does it mean?', I keep asking myself. What is being "saved?" Am I saved from hell? No, that's not it, I've never really thought about hell, nor even the possibility of my going there. Funny, before you're 'saved', hell has no impact on your personal life, and then after you're 'saved', hell has absolutely no impact on your personal life. It isn't like I actually ever sensed that I was saved from what Christianity terms "hell," or sheol, or hades. Never crossed my mind once when I was meeting God. So personally, I've never been counsciously saved from hell. God wasn't showing me I was saved from hell, that much is clear. So what was I saved from when I met the Lord? What was I saved from? I wouldn't have said that I was ever saved; what a strange word. I know Jesus uses it, but it doesn't seem to fit properly.
Instead, I met the Lord. I, all of a sudden, knew that God was, and that He really was who this book proclaimed Him to be, and that the way was paved right to His Throne. It was the most powerful and influencial moment of my life, even though the emotional and spiritual intensity of the experience has since been dwarfed (which was quite a feat, let me tell you). But I wasn't saved from anything. The only difference was that now I knew that Jesus ruled and reigned over all His creation, and was very near to me. How else can someone describe the experience? Was I covered by the blood? Well, the book says that all creation has been propitiated for, 1 John says it very explicitly. So yes, I was covered by the blood. But something changed, and while it wasn't the fact that I was covered (I've never felt uncovered before God my whole life), I was definitely changed by this knowledge that God was near. I could no longer involve myself in the old things. So in a sense, I was saved, but more from me than from some place. I was no longer dragging myself down into sensually driven thought and action, and I was able to take great Joy and strength in this new knowledge. They remain to this very moment.
And the book says that this thing that allowed me to see God for the first time, and allowed me to desire after Him more strongly than anything I've ever wanted, was from Him. Faith, the book calls it: the ability to see truth which reason can't yet access, the evidence of some spiritual presence, the assurance of Higher Help. The book also says this faith isn't from me. It isn't of me. It belongs to a higher order, and a Higher Person. True Faith is only present when someone else is present. I can't drum it up. I can't provoke it, because anytime I have actually tasted real faith (those times ARE WONDERFUL!), are times when He has drawn near, and let me have a taste. Those moments of true faith are unmistakable, irreplacable, unforgettable; they are PERMANENT experiences. So if indeed faith has its source, guide, and goal in the Author and Perfector of Faith, what is salvation? It is simply an administering of the faith of God to us, through our desire to know Him.
Ok, I am coming to the edge of the blade of my thoughts; is all humanity, that has not tasted the hunger or desire to know God, going to be perpetually cast away from the God who knew these people long, long before they were born? Is this indeed the God we serve? I am not here to question my God, because I trust Him innately, regardless. But I am here to question what we think of our God. Perhaps it is not as clear cut as we once thought. So what is faith? What is salvation? I believe that the scriptures teach that these things come from Him and Him alone, that they cannot be sourced in us, and that we have no reason to boast. So where does that leave those who never 'chose' it? IF WE HAVE NO REASON TO BOAST IN OUR SALVATION, THEN WHAT HAS KEPT UNBELIVERS FROM IT?? Only that which GIVES SALVATION could possibly be the limiting factor, if indeed we have no reason to boast, otherwise we could boast in our own exertion. My choice for God is not a reason for boasting, because even that choice was given to me. My 'receiving' that choice is not even a reason for boasting, because that was given to me. So what then, is salvation??
Deg.
What a word.
I'm writing this now, because I've thought long and hard about "salvation." 'What does it mean?', I keep asking myself. What is being "saved?" Am I saved from hell? No, that's not it, I've never really thought about hell, nor even the possibility of my going there. Funny, before you're 'saved', hell has no impact on your personal life, and then after you're 'saved', hell has absolutely no impact on your personal life. It isn't like I actually ever sensed that I was saved from what Christianity terms "hell," or sheol, or hades. Never crossed my mind once when I was meeting God. So personally, I've never been counsciously saved from hell. God wasn't showing me I was saved from hell, that much is clear. So what was I saved from when I met the Lord? What was I saved from? I wouldn't have said that I was ever saved; what a strange word. I know Jesus uses it, but it doesn't seem to fit properly.
Instead, I met the Lord. I, all of a sudden, knew that God was, and that He really was who this book proclaimed Him to be, and that the way was paved right to His Throne. It was the most powerful and influencial moment of my life, even though the emotional and spiritual intensity of the experience has since been dwarfed (which was quite a feat, let me tell you). But I wasn't saved from anything. The only difference was that now I knew that Jesus ruled and reigned over all His creation, and was very near to me. How else can someone describe the experience? Was I covered by the blood? Well, the book says that all creation has been propitiated for, 1 John says it very explicitly. So yes, I was covered by the blood. But something changed, and while it wasn't the fact that I was covered (I've never felt uncovered before God my whole life), I was definitely changed by this knowledge that God was near. I could no longer involve myself in the old things. So in a sense, I was saved, but more from me than from some place. I was no longer dragging myself down into sensually driven thought and action, and I was able to take great Joy and strength in this new knowledge. They remain to this very moment.
And the book says that this thing that allowed me to see God for the first time, and allowed me to desire after Him more strongly than anything I've ever wanted, was from Him. Faith, the book calls it: the ability to see truth which reason can't yet access, the evidence of some spiritual presence, the assurance of Higher Help. The book also says this faith isn't from me. It isn't of me. It belongs to a higher order, and a Higher Person. True Faith is only present when someone else is present. I can't drum it up. I can't provoke it, because anytime I have actually tasted real faith (those times ARE WONDERFUL!), are times when He has drawn near, and let me have a taste. Those moments of true faith are unmistakable, irreplacable, unforgettable; they are PERMANENT experiences. So if indeed faith has its source, guide, and goal in the Author and Perfector of Faith, what is salvation? It is simply an administering of the faith of God to us, through our desire to know Him.
Ok, I am coming to the edge of the blade of my thoughts; is all humanity, that has not tasted the hunger or desire to know God, going to be perpetually cast away from the God who knew these people long, long before they were born? Is this indeed the God we serve? I am not here to question my God, because I trust Him innately, regardless. But I am here to question what we think of our God. Perhaps it is not as clear cut as we once thought. So what is faith? What is salvation? I believe that the scriptures teach that these things come from Him and Him alone, that they cannot be sourced in us, and that we have no reason to boast. So where does that leave those who never 'chose' it? IF WE HAVE NO REASON TO BOAST IN OUR SALVATION, THEN WHAT HAS KEPT UNBELIVERS FROM IT?? Only that which GIVES SALVATION could possibly be the limiting factor, if indeed we have no reason to boast, otherwise we could boast in our own exertion. My choice for God is not a reason for boasting, because even that choice was given to me. My 'receiving' that choice is not even a reason for boasting, because that was given to me. So what then, is salvation??
Deg.
