Has Jesus Saved You?

September 26, 2014

Has Jesus Saved You?

And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:21

The Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him that Mary would have a son, and that Joseph was to name him Jesus. Jesus means, “The Lord saves” or “The One who saves.” Has Jesus saved you? Before you answer, think about some of the teachings of Jesus.

In Luke 9:48, Jesus said, “Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.” In Matthew 25:40, Jesus said when we serve the least of his brothers and sisters, we were serving him. In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us our love for one another is our witness to the world that Jesus is the Messiah. (John 13:34) When I put these three together, I conclude that Jesus is trying to teach me to love others and to be merciful and compassionate to others. However, there is a spiritual truth that governs my capacity to love, to be merciful, and to be compassionate. Until you know who you are in Christ, it is impossible to love others; all you can do is take from others in vain attempts to meet your own needs.

When you know who you are in Christ, you embrace Bernard of Clairvaux’s highest form of loving God as your goal: love self for God’s sake. With this as your ambition, you can then become merciful and compassionate toward yourself, so that you can then be merciful and compassionate toward others. Before I can answer the question, “Has Jesus saved you,” I first must consider how compassionate and merciful I am toward myself. Even though I am resting in the full assurance that I belong to Jesus, there are some days when I am saved pretty well, and some days, not so much. Learning to be compassionate, learning to love myself for God’s sake, which is how we honor God by owning what He has done for us, is the greatest challenge of my spiritual life. I am comforted to know, “He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle” (Matthew 12:20).

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.