I Need Saving

June 4, 2014

I Need Saving

“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”

Isaiah 64:6

One of the most haunting sentences in the Bible is Jesus’ words to the church in Ephesus, “If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches” (Revelation 2:5b). When I served as a pastor, I kept a lamp burning in the chancel area to remind the congregation that what the Lord gives, the Lord can take away. In the case of Ephesus, the church didn’t love Jesus or each other as they did at first. Much like the church at Laodicea they had become like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, and Jesus was prepared to spit them out of his mouth! The poor Laodiceans said, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And Jesus said, “You don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:15-17).

One of the greatest temptations facing the followers of Jesus is to delude ourselves into thinking that it is the other guy who needs saving; it is the other person who needs spiritual maturity; it is others who need self-discipline. One of the signs we are yielding to this temptation is in our disagreements over little things. Novelist Anthony Trollope wrote, “the apostle of Christianity and the infidel can meet without a chance of a quarrel; but it is never safe to bring together two men who differ about a saint or a surplice.”

Evangelist Peter Lord loved to trip up Christians by giving them a True / False quiz. The first question was, “A good description of a Christian is a sinner saved by grace.” Most reply True, but it really is a trick question. Yes, a definition of a Christian is a sinner saved by grace. However, Peter Lord said that’s not a good description. Becoming a Christian is becoming a new person. A Christian is a child of God, a joint heir with Christ. I don’t disagree with Lord’s point, but I think we need to never lose sight of the fact that both answers are absolutely correct. That’s the point Isaiah was trying to teach Israel, and it is the same point Jesus was trying to teach to the Ephesians and Laodiceans. It is the same truth Jesus wants you and me to embrace very day. It is not the other guy who needs saving; it is me. I am the one who is wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.