|
“Have You Been Saved?”
There is simply no greater question. “Have you been saved?”
You need to know the answer to this question.
But of course, this raises another question: “Saved from what?”
If the answer is “…saved from drowning?” then the answer is obvious. You are either drowning or you aren’t. If you are surrounded by waves and struggling for air and about to give out, you easily scream out, “I have not been saved! Save me!!!” But once you are safely ashore or on the boat, and you have a towel wrapped around you, though you may be sputtering and shaking, you know that you have been saved. Saved from a certain, terrible death.
But if the answer is “…saved from your sins? Saved from death, from eternal punishment, separation from God; saved from hell.” That’s a bit trickier, isn’t it? How do you “know that you know that you know” (as the old revivalists used to preach) that you have been saved by God from hell and death?
I remember seeing a passionate young Christian on my college campus who was out asking folks if they had been saved. He came upon a man slightly older, sitting on a step outside of the seminary building. He was smoking a pipe. The young Christian asked the older man, “Have you been saved?” The slightly older fellow inhaled deeply from his pipe and exhaled a cloud of smoke. Then he calmly but firmly responded to the young man, “I have been saved. I am being saved. And one day, I will be saved.” The younger fellow just stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do with this strange answer.
Little did the young man know, the slightly older gentleman with the pipe was in fact a Methodist minister. Now, I’m not sure John Wesley would have approved of a preacher puffing on a pipe! But this one was. The questioner may also not have realized that he had been given a perfect answer to the question. A Biblical answer. Because according to Scripture, salvation is BOTH a moment and a process. When it comes to our salvation, it is critical that we be able to say, “I have been saved!” (past tense). “I am being saved!” (present tense). And, “I shall be saved!” (future tense).
This Sunday, I hope you will be in your place in worship at Perry UMC as we witness a young family bring their baby girl to be baptized. They will make promises to teach by their word and example the way to salvation in Jesus Christ. Then, we will welcome eleven young men and women who will come to publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ! I’m thrilled that these beautiful students are on the journey of salvation in Christ!
What about you? Have you been saved?
Grace and Peace,
Tom
| 
