THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever had to be rescued?
READ TOGETHER
Christians use the word “saved” a lot. Are you saved? When were you saved? How many people got saved? I’m not sure I’m saved. Saved by grace. Saved by the blood. Jesus saves!
Of course it’s not wrong to talk this way at all. The angel told Joseph to name the baby Jesus (Yahweh is salvation) because he will save his people.
Matthew 1:21. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
But what does the word save mean? Well, it means to be rescued. When the Bible talks about salvation it is talking about being delivered from harm, or rescued from danger. And let’s be perfectly clear, here is the gospel truth – we cannot save ourselves. We can only trust in someone else who can and will save us. The knight saves the princess from the dragon, the superhero saves the city from the bad guy, and so on. People who are saved have been rescued by someone else. A hero.
But why do we need saving? Because we were living trapped in sin. Sin was like a prison that we could never get out of no matter how hard we tried. No matter how hard we might try we will always fall short of what God requires – perfection. And our sin leads to death. The Bible says that the wage of sin is death. And that, my friends, is why we need a rescue. That is why we need salvation. And that is why grace appeared.
Titus 2:11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
Grace appeared in the face of a child born to us that day in Bethlehem. Grace appeared when God took on flesh to bring us his life, his righteousness, his peace, his love, his mercy, his freedom, his hope.
And then came the rescue mission. The child grew into righteousness. The baby born to Mary lived his entire life by faith in God. He kept the Law. He never sinned. And he never quit. And yet, despite his perfection, our salvation would come only through his death. He died so that we might live. He died so that we could be rescued.
Have you been rescued? Have you been saved?
If you have then you are not only saved FROM badness, you are saved UNTO goodness. Our salvation has two parts. We are not only saved from death; we are saved to life. We are not only innocent of all sin; we are also free from sin’s power over us. We can be good like Jesus. We can love like Jesus. We can be kind like Jesus.
No that’s a rescue that changes everything.
Because of Jesus we can be saved from sin’s punishment and sin’s power.
With Jesus we can live the rescued life of goodness and love.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch this scene from Pilgrim’s Progress together. If your family is unfamiliar with the story I recommend watching all the episodes in this series together.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
You rescued me from my sin when you came to Earth and died for me. Now I can live full and free in your great love.
Amen.
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