Save Me!

You know, I’ve been in a church most of my life. I had a stint as a teenager when I attempted to ‘run from God.’ Funny thing about God, He’s everywhere so it’s kind of hard to run from Him. Jonah kind of found that out the hard way, but I digress. When folks are in a church or any organization or profession they learn the ‘language’ of the people. (I.E: folks in education know what it means to ‘monitor and adjust,’ just like I learned certain euphemisms in construction work like ‘square with the world.’)

Truth is church is no different. We have ‘the language of Zion.’ Church talk that folks who are in the ‘initiated’ know the jargon. Some of it’s good & some not so good. Case in point: early in ministry we were visiting a nursing home & a gentleman cried out, “I’m lost!” I clarified, “You’re lost?” He responded, “I’m lost!” I ran & grabbed my 97 pound Scoffield bible & proceeded to explain to him how he could trust Christ as Savior. His response was, “I’m lost! Where am I?” Chalk it up to an my being an ‘eager beaver’ lost in translation.

Later on (I should have known better then) I was sharing with another gentlemen & asked, “Have you ever been saved?” His response was, “Yes, I have. I was sailing on the Adriatic Sea with my wife when our boat sank. We were adrift a day & someone came along & saved us.” Now, while I was happy to hear of his rescue, I had something a little more eternal in mind.

I minister to people about every day who are floundering in life. We all are trapped in a hurting sinful world. Just like them, I need to be saved, if from nothing more than myself! I’m truly thankful God doesn’t wait around for me to simply try & ‘straighten up’ or get my ‘religious act together’. He reaches down to me where I am.

As I shared, my family & church family are going through an ‘evangelical’ Advent. The scriptures this week are a wonderful reminder of why Jesus came in the first place. The bible says it this way,“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5: 6-8 NIV.

Again, bear in mind that I’ve been studying the bible for a bazillion years it seems, but God sometimes still has to tap me up side the head & point out the obvious. It says, “God demonstrates”. That’s ongoing! He’s still showing & reaching out to us!! Jesus came down & died long ago but He STILL reaches into our death & depravity to clean us up & make us usable.

An angel spoke to an unsure young man named Joseph to help him see the picture that God was about to make sense out of an unbelievable, hopeless situation & change the entire world! He said, “She (Mary) will give birth to a Son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 NIV.

Well, there you have it. Jesus came to save us. I surely need saving. Begs the question, “have you ever been saved?” I’m not talking about from the Adriatic Sea either!

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Dave Jackson-Campus Minister djackson@absc.org

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