Salvation is great because it is eternal. It is eternal because the human problem is not temporary or incidental. “… death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” (Romans 5:14, NASB) The problem cannot be fixed by anything created because humans were designed with the capacity to depart from God’s roadmap. Salvation is the remedy prepared before the problem happened and before the perpetrator was created. The benefits of this highest level initiative has nothing temporary: not the pardon, not the gift of the Holy Spirit, not the life of service and not the scheduled glory at the end of the age. Did I mention that glory also streams through pardon, descent and residence of the Holy Spirit, and loving service? No person called and chosen by GOD for this salvation needs to come back for another try. All the people who saw financial prosperity, problem-free employment and relationships, perfect physical fitness and freedom from disease, as benefits of the great salvation are all dead. Are they not?
A few rabbit holes to avoid
- Salvation that leaves you unsafe
- Hope gets hoovered up by how well people perform
- Caring more about obedience brownie points than compassionate actions towards humans or animals
- Commands unrelated to from the human terminal condition
- Love that discriminates (gender and ethnicity bases come to mind)
- A new covenant that reads in all the terms of its predecessor
Do we know anyone who, in addition to passing from death to life, from condemnation to adoption, legitimately represents the Risen Lord as passed from common human conditions like poverty, weakness, famine, and distress?
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 