What does it mean to be saved? Life is unpredictable. A few years ago, a friend and her husband were vacationing in New York. I can imagine that they looked forward to many similar vacations in the future. But suddenly all the plans changed. A wife is without her husband who died of a massive heart attack. Eternity seems so distant to us and some of us figure we have many years to get serious about our relationship with God.
Paul describes what “being saved” means. He tells us in Colossians to, “Give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (1:12). The word “qualified” is in the past tense which means that it has already happened. We ARE qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints.
The Bible is clear on our status before God. We read in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” To sin is to commit treason against God. The Bible tells us that those who sin will be cast from God’s presence and will be considered His enemies.
Even the heroic efforts of the gallant men and women who responded to the 911 catastrophe are not enough to qualify them for Heaven. What they did was great (by our standards) but it is not enough to be saved. In fact, even at our best we are not good enough to warrant God’s acceptance.
In Romans 5 Paul writes that God demonstrates his own love for us in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christ died as our substitute and as a result, we can become saved. He paid for our sins and qualified us for Heaven. Before we were “rescued” we were wandering in darkness. But God has taken us from the darkness and moved us into the light. We no longer live in the Kingdom of the enemy. We now live in the Kingdom of the Son, but that’s just my take.
Salvation is simple. Romans 10:9 says, “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
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