Candle in the Wind

What does it mean to be saved?

Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. - Romans 10:9-10

When it comes right down to it, the teaching of Paul is clear on the subject.  Only those who confess Christ as God and savior will be saved.  Everyone else will be left out.

This comes from a man who felt he didn't deserve to be saved because of how he persecuted the followers of Christ.  But if he could be saved, anyone could.

Now, the problem, as I see it, is we are talking about eternity.  Being saved after this life is probably not high on people's bucket list.  And there are many of us Christians who have trouble with the exclusion of all other "good people" and believers in God.

So, we back burner this conversation and go about our business as if it doesn't matter.

Now there are others who feel so strongly about this that they are on a mission to convert as many people as they can, for fear that those poor souls will be left out of the salvation selection process.

What's confusing about all this is that Jesus welcomed everyone to himself, regardless of their afflictions, their sins or their history.  Yes, he started with only the Jews, and he was determined to help the ones in need of returning to God back to the fold, but he did embrace others.

Paul took it a step farther and embraced the Gentiles totally.

But we think of salvation as an eternity thing and not a present day thing.  What can I do today that will make this life right now better?

So, for all who don't know Jesus and any who think they do but are confused about salvation, I suggest starting over and reading the Gospels.

Read them like you would any other story, and let the simplicity of each encounter sink in.

Jesus says a lot by example and he says a lot more through short parables, challenging stories that cause us to think.

If we read the Gospels this way, we experience the characters in the story and we discover that each encounter with Christ is unique, each having its own purpose and message.

The people who are healed, cured, reconciled to themselves, and even those who walk away are all changed.  Their lives on earth are saved from the hell they were in.  They get a new start.

That is the salvation we should share with people when we talk about Jesus.  We should be inviting others to get to know the one we call son and lord and God, no to convert them, but to show them why our hearts are full and our eyes are smiling.

The world may think we feel we are special, but the truth is we have found the joy of living in the light of God, being a candle in the wind.

It's a good thing.

More to come...