What does it mean to be saved? This question has taunted me for just about a year. Someone near and dear to my heart asked me this question and I froze. I can remember the tone by which she said it. She had taken a little bit of offense having heard this bit of christian-ese talk over the week she spent with me. I couldn't really answer her question. I know I thought (although not sure if I said it out loud), "I don't know but you would know, if you were saved". (I know i'm a little to blunt for my own good). I remember not wanting to answer for fear I would do more harm than good. So I am accepting the challenge and answering the question.
This is what being SAVED means to me.
Being saved to me is particularly special, because of how I am saved. "For God so loved the world (me), that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. To me that is a WOW! He gave the ultimate sacrifice so I would not perish. Do you get that? Having lost my little girl that means so much to me. Can you imagine a love so strong, so strong in fact, you do the unthinkable. He sacrificed his son for us. Who are we? I certainly don't feel I would give up Elena for someone else, particularly,for someone who to often is ungrateful and won't accept a free gift. But, that just shows how awesome our God is. His love is never ending. He only wants the best for his children. To me being saved means being free, being strong, being understood, feeling loved, being comforted. It's knowing God's got my back. And, who's more powerful than him? NO ONE! It's Knowing that there is a place in heaven awaiting me.
Prior to being saved I can vividly remember thinking about whether I would go to heaven or hell. I knew I was going to hell and I remember I thought of what hell would be like and my heart would start to palpitate and my hands would shake a bit, just from fear of spending all of eternity there. It makes me so happy to report, I haven't had those anxiety attacks in quite sometime. You see I had heard the gospel. I knew better. Yet, I chose to turn away and pretend I didn't hear anything, to pretend I didn't care where I spent eternity. When I think about it now, I realize I had been looking for God since I was a child. I was looking in all the wrong places, because I never thought to look in my heart. I thought to know God meant a lot of pomp and circumstance. I was looking to someone in the flesh to show me and represent God. Rather than relying on God himself to show me the way. God has revealed himself to me in ways I can't even explain. I love how God challenges me daily to be the best me possible. Although believe me some days this is better achieved than others. I just pray daily for God to sanctify me to the point of overflow so it may spill over to someone else, who is desperate for his love, yet they don't know it.
It's funny all this writing and I still feel I haven't done the question any justice. I guess I can also explain it as having a new relationship that continues to grow and grow. I learn something new everyday. It's having a lamp shining the way as opposed to walking in the darkness. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105. I don't know about you, but I certainly hate it when I stub my toe in the middle of the night, because I can't see. Being saved also means allowing Jesus to dwell within your heart. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."Galatians 2:20. Being saved means being redeemed. Were you worth the purchase price? God thinks we all were.
It's funny as I look back on this entry it reminds me of something one of my friends said to me. She said, "when I was saved I thought okay, but i'm not gonna be one of those bible thumping christians". I remember feeling the same way, now nothing pleases me or brings me greater comfort than getting deeper into the word of God and understanding it. Growing in my walk with him, is what I look forward to most days. I'm telling you him dwelling in you, changes you in ways you swore would never happen and you welcome it in ways you never thought you would. I love expecting to see God working everyday.
Simply put I am Saved because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.
“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
I suppose being Saved is knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt one day I will hear God say "well done, good and faithful servant", God wants to SAVE you, just like he did me. His word says it gives him great joy and he delights in it.
