Much More

 What does your salvation mean to you?

Maybe it means nothing to you because you don't know what I'm talking about. If that's the case for you, I invite you to email me and give me the privilege of sharing what it means.

Maybe it means very little to you: it was just something that you did as a child because your friend did it. 

Maybe for you, it was just a fire escape. Some preacher scared you with loud words about hell and you didn't want to burn someday, so you repeated a prayer after him, not really understanding what you were doing.

Maybe for you, it was all about getting that preacher to stop singing "Just As I Am' for the 50th time, because you had figured out that he wasn't going to stop until SOMEONE went to the altar to pray. 

Maybe for you, it really WAS a sincere heart-cry on that day, but it really hasn't changed much of anything since then.

But in reality--in God's reality--our salvation should mean EVERYTHING to us. It should touch ALL of who we are. It should effect our physical bodies, our emotional state, our thinking process, our purpose in life, our possessions, our relationships, and much more. Everything that concerns us should be rooted in the truth of our salvation. Our salvation wasn't just about the day we got saved. The power of God to save us from sin wasn't just enough power to work on our behalf in that moment and then we are left to fend for ourselves in this world and figure it out alone. 

Look at the truth in Rom. 5:10. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Notice the progression. At the moment of our salvation, the power of God changed us from being an enemy of God to being a child of God. That, my friends, is a stand-up-and-shout-hallelujah moment!!!! 

But that's not ALL we got! Look at the rest of the verse. "MUCH MORE, being reconciled (having already become a child of God), we shall be saved by his life!" Much more!!! The moment of our salvation is just a moment. But there will be a bazillion moments after that one! And God provides for ALL OF THEM! Our salvation affects EVERYTHING!

Or at least it should.

Go with me again into my Bible reading in Psalms 78. Look at what those silly Israelites were doing in verses 17-21! God had delivered them from Egypt. He had given them bread, AKA manna, or angel's food. He had provided water. God says He gave them "meat to the full." He provided everything they needed. But what does the Bible say about them? "They sinned yet more...by provoking the most high." "They tempted God." "They spake against God." And ultimately, WHY did they do those things? Verse 22 says, "Because they BELIEVED NOT God, and TRUSTED NOT in his salvation." 

Wow.

They didn't trust the God who had saved them from death by the Egyptians. They didn't trust the God who saved them from death by starvation. They didn't trust the God who saved them from death by thirst. They didn't trust. They didn't believe. They didn't depend. THEY DIDN'T TRUST HIS SALVATION.

And before we go any further criticizing these TERRIBLE PEOPLE, let's remember that we are related to them. We are related by nature. And we are related by practice. Because we do the same exact things. We trust God to save us from sin, but we don't trust Him to save us from this world or from Satan or from the worst of our enemies, ourselves. We believed God's power to save us initially, but we haven't given Him or His provision for us anymore thought since then.  

Beloved, God's power to 'keep on saving us' after the moment of our salvation is summed up in two little words in Romans 5:10. Those words are 'HIS LIFE.' God's life. The life of Christ. The Holy Spirit IN you. And God's life is beyond any limitations. It is 'much more' It is 'abundantly above all.' 

So today, let's be less doubtful, and more sure. Let's be less confused, and more clear. Let's be less afraid, and more trusting. 

Let's be less dependent on ourselves, and more dependent on God!

Recommended Reading: The Saving Life of Christ, by Major W. Ian Thomas