A collection of posts about our great salvation

Lost and Found

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. Luke 15:32 ESV

I’ve always been a dog person. I read a quick story about Sage, a twelve-year-old Labrador who wandered away from her family one night. Wandering is kind of a dog thing. Two of mine got disoriented and lost after they got up in years. The police picked up the male and dropped him at the animal shelter and we got him the next day. Holly found a three-foot construction trench and couldn’t get her terrier body back out. We found her a couple of hours later. Sage was missing for a solid week. In cold, wet California. Where mountain lion sightings were common. Oh, and Sage is blind.

Family and friends had combed the area looking for the dog with no luck. On the eighth day, a neighbor spotted what he first thought was a trash bag in a creek. And then it raised its head. He put the old dog on his shoulders and carried her out of the canyon and back to her family. There was much rejoicing. And dog treats.

We connect deeply with the lost being found because we’ve been there. We were separated from God, blind to the danger we were in, exhausted and hopeless. And we were rescued. And there was much rejoicing.

For a while. Then we settle back into routine and complacency. Maybe we forgot the desperation of being lost. Maybe we forgot the cost of the rescue. Whatever the reason, stories like Sage’s jog our memory. Not only that, they impress on us how many others are still waiting to be rescued.
Separated from God.
Blind to the danger.
Exhausted.
Hopeless.

Easter is a few days away. Christ’s death and resurrection made our rescue possible. Celebrate your rescue. Tell the story. Help others get rescued themselves.

He Chose to Pay

By Paula Wiseman

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:2

We understand that God knows the future, that nothing surprises Him or is outside His sovereign control.

Adam’s sin didn’t catch God off guard or force Him to Plan B …

God knew man would fall, that he would need salvation and that God would have to accomplish it Himself.

At the moment of creation, our creation, God was fully aware of what it would cost Him —

The blood. The suffering. The death.

And He willingly chose to pay that price.

Propitiation means payment. Read more here: Doctrinal Definitions: Propitiation

No More Wall

By Paula Wiseman

If you’re as old as I am, you can remember a time when Berlin was divided into East and West by a concrete wall. A few weeks ago, I read that not long after the wall went up, psychiatrists in East Berlin began to see a marked increase in depression, rage, and even addictions. They determined that the only cure for this “Wall Disease” was to bring the wall down. In 1989, jubilant crowds, some with sledgehammers in hand, broke down the wall amid wild celebrations that they were no longer cut off, no longer denied access.

If you’ve ever seen pictures or video from that event, it’s hard not to be touched by the people experiencing not only the rush of political freedom, but emotional freedom as well. I think one reason it connects so deeply with us is that we as believers can relate on an eternal scale.

A very long time ago, in a Garden, a wall of sorts went up. It wasn’t made of concrete, but it was far more formidable. Genesis 3:24 says because of man’s sin, he was driven from the Garden, and God placed an angel with a flaming sword at the entrance to Eden, denying man access to God’s presence. The whole human race has suffered since then.

Hundreds of years later, that separation was reiterated when God gave Moses the design for the tabernacle with its Holy of Holies. There was no wall exactly, but ordinary people had no access to God, and the High Priest was afforded such a privilege only under extremely limited circumstances. The Temple followed that model as well, and for hundreds of years, man was cut off from God’s presence. Separated.

But God would not allow that separation to be the last word.

In Matthew 27:51 is one of my favorite parts of the crucifixion story. “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…”

With Christ’s death, the wall that cut us off from God, from his glory, from His presence came down. Christ restored our access and He set us free. Eternally, spiritually free.

A Study in Contrasts: God, who is rich in mercy

By Paula Wiseman

Study in Contrasts God rich in mercy title graphic

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, Ephesians 2:4 (ESV)

Today we finish up our study of contrasts in Scripture, marked by the conjunction ‘but’. We’ll consider perhaps the greatest contrast of all. Ephesians is a rich, deep book, worthy of slow, serious study. Paul left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus during his second missionary trip (Acts 18:18-19) and the couple founded the church. Paul pastored the church for three years, his longest tenure anywhere. After Paul, Timothy led the church and the Apostle John also pastored the church some years later. One of Paul’s major themes in the letter he wrote to the church was that they understand what an amazing gift salvation is. It’s in the middle of this discussion that we get to chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:1-3 describes who we were.

There’s not much need for comment or elaboration. Let’s just look at what Paul says.

We were spiritually dead in disobedience and sins, lots of them.
We lived in sin. It was our lifestyle, our frame of reference, our worldview.
We obeyed the devil. In fact, he was actively working in our hearts.
We gave in to whatever desires, inclinations, bad habits we wanted. Self-gratification was our driving force.
We were destined to be on the receiving end of God’s wrath.

Hold up here for a moment. That’s a lot of depravity right there. For many of us, our first reaction to that list is, “Yeah, but I wasn’t that bad.” Be honest. Granted, it is difficult for us, now that we have been redeemed, to re-imagine that mindset that made us enemies of God. But a failure to recognize our utter lostness and hopelessness prevents from grasping the wonder of what God did for us. Paul describes it verses 4-7.

It is into that darkness that the light of the glorious gospel bursts forth.

God, being rich in mercy. His mercy defines Him. He is a mercy-aire
His boundless love motivates moves Him to action. He cannot stand by and watch as we are condemned by our own rebellion. He chooses to get involved.
First, He makes us alive. He reverses the spiritual death that doomed us.
That spiritual life is an eternal thing. We will live forever, and so He made a place for us in heaven, in His dwelling place. See, He wants us with Him, with Christ Jesus. This is possible through the death and atonement of Jesus.
Why does He want us in heaven? So that He could explain to us how much He loves us, how His great mercy is and grace were poured out for us in the death of Christ to save us.

This is where words begin to fail. We rebel. But He redeems. We audaciously turn our backs. But He lovingly opens His heart. We deserve the justice of wrath. But He, being rich in mercy, delivers the grace of reconciliation.

So what do we take away from this?

Embrace the superabundant love of God, His delight and His grace. Do not listen to the whispers of the enemy who would try to convince you that you’re on probation, or it’s all a mirage.

Remember it’s all His work and none of ours. Serving Him now is the response of gratefulness not the obligation of debt. The debt is paid.

Ensure those still in darkness know that there is a way out, but only one way.

Want to study more of Ephesians? Study Tip: Ephesians

Read more from the Study in Contrasts series.

Total Protection

By Paula Wiseman

Are you totally protected?

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God? Hebrews 9:13-14

Several years ago, my brother-in-law’s house was broken into. It was close to Christmas and all the presents were taken, along with portables like the VCR. Even my nephews’ banks were taken. Afterward, along one of the side roads, they found wrapping paper the thieves discarded as they unwrapped their treasures.

That incident prompted many in the area, including us, to install a security system. We want to know that we’re totally protected, that we’ll be warned if an intruder is trying to get in, and that the intruder will be adequately deterred.

We like the idea of having a system or a method of security and protection. I hear commercials every day urging me to safeguard my data, protect my identity, my investments, or my health. Sometimes the threats are real. Other times it’s fear-mongering to make a few dollars.

Several thousand years ago, Moses proposed that the nation of Israel adopt the most foolproof security system ever devised. The threat was real and deadly. God’s judgment was going to fall on the land of Egypt, where the Hebrews lived. Sin always brings judgment. Judgment always brings death, and in this case, the firstborn son of every household would be taken. Every household.

Unless the household installed the prescribed security system.

If the household took lamb’s blood and marked the doorframe, the intruder – death – would not enter that household. No death. No judgment. The system was guaranteed 100% effective by the manufacturer. The system lived up to its billing. Not a single death occurred in the secure households. Not a single household escaped death in the unsecured ones.

Total protection.

That was the prototype. Later, God introduced a much more robust system, designed to protect us not from ordinary temporal threats, but eternal ones. It is the only system capable of delivering that level of protection. The only one.

It still means living under lamb’s blood, but this time it’s the Lamb of God. Anyone who chooses this system, who applies the blood is guaranteed protection from the eternal death. Again it’s a 100% thing. Not a single person who lives under blood will face eternal death. No one who disregards the system will escape.

There is an extensive manual for the system and support is available anytime. If you don’t have this system, time is running out. There is no cost to you. The developer has paid every price in order to make it available to anyone who wants it.

Don’t be fooled by slick imitations. Make sure you have the only system guaranteed to protect you from eternal death. Make sure you have the blood of Jesus Christ.

Make sure you are totally protected.

What Is Our Salvation Doing For Us?

By Paula Wiseman

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

When each of the kids was very young, we set up a special account for them at the bank. In exchange for a better interest rate on their deposits– almost double the regular rate–they can’t get any money out until they turn eighteen. Especially starting out, it was hard for them to see the bank account as much more than a black hole.

Sometimes I think we treat our salvation that way, as if it were some glorious thing held in reserve for us until we die. Which it is, but it is so much more. Jesus intended for us to benefit from our relationship with Him now, in the course of our normal everyday lives.

So what is our salvation doing for us?

It gives us unlimited access to the King of the Universe. There is no limit to the prayers we can offer, the requests we can make, the time we can spend in His presence. (Hebrews 4:16)

It gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit. The mind-blowing reality is that God Himself comes to live inside us, taking over the reins of our lives, directing us in ways that never would appeal to us before we became believers. Those acts of kindness we do, those brilliant flashes of insight, those times we step out on faith, the Holy Spirit is behind all those. (John 14:16-17)

It gives us the ability to overcome temptation. Oh, we fall for it plenty of times, but there are so many temptations we resist every single day because our salvation is at work. (Romans 6:16-19)

It gives us a purpose and the power to accomplish it. No more floating along wondering what in the world is going on and why we’re here in the middle of it. God has a unique kingdom work for every one of us, and He promises to provide all the resources we need to carry out that mission. (John 15:16)

It gives us freedom from performance. No more trying to earn God’s favor. We have it. Forever. Pressure is replaced by peace. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

It gives us the status of beloved child. We are immediately adopted into God’s own family. Not servants. Not guests. Family. Beloved family. (Romans 8:15-17)

And on and on… Here’s the thing– when we treat salvation only as a past event or even as a future hope, we miss the great work going on in our lives each and every day. Let’s make the most of it. Like Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:19-20