Saved?

Saved.

What comes to mind when you see that word?  Perhaps today it is more commonly used to talk about information on a computer.  Money can be saved.  Time can be saved.  Food can be saved.  And people can be saved, on several levels.

I once was called to the home of a man who was dying of cancer.  He lived in a mobile home in the small town of my first church.  Most of his life he had worked in the oil field.  As I talked with him about his life we moved from his illness to his spiritual life.  He made the statement, "God has saved me many times."  I asked him what he meant by that?  What followed were several stories about how he should have been killed in an oil field related accidents and he was spared.  He sensed God had a purpose for him being here and he vowed after each incident that he would live a cleaner, better life.  Each time he had reverted to his own sinful ways, but he asserted he had been saved by God - that was his definition.

I was able to explain to him that God had spared him here but wanted to save him eternally.  After several more visits, he did accept Christ.  Another pastor friend baptized him in his bathtub before he passed away.  I felt he did understand what it meant for God to save him eternally, but it goes to show how definitions of the word "saved" can vary. 

People get hung up on different issues of salvation.  Some people don't think they need it, they are fine just the way they are.  Some people have had an "experience" but begin to doubt it and wonder it they are saved.  Sometimes people wonder for years about their salvation.  What can you do if you are one of those people?  There is a good Biblical example in a man named Nicodemus who went to talk to Jesus about his life.  We will follow their conversation Sunday and hopefully clear up some confusion and bring some clarity.

For the journey...

Tim