Building a Life That Matters for Good - Buckle Up: Accepting the Free Gift of God’s Graceনমুনা

The Beautiful Simplicity of Salvation

Salvation is kind of a “churchy” word—what does it even mean? Of course, it can mean different things in various contexts, but generally, salvation means to deliver, protect, or preserve. In the Bible, sometimes it means physical salvation, like salvation from prison or a war, but often it refers to Spiritual Salvation from God’s Judgment and Wrath due to our sin.

Why Do We Need to Be Saved?

God is Love, but God is also Just and Perfect. We all want a just and fair world. It’s comforting to know that there will be justice for the child molesters and murderers, and even for the person who cut us off in traffic. But we want mercy for ourselves and the things we’ve done wrong. The Bible reminds us that we all deserve judgment: “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Thankfully, God provides the Perfect Solution. Jesus took the penalty for our sins on the Cross. And simply by trusting that—nothing more, nothing less—you are forever forgiven and you are born into the Family of God.

How Are We Saved?

A lot of people have heard John 3:16, the most famous verse in the Bible, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” However, not many people realize that Jesus explained the concept of Salvation in the two verses just before John 3:16.

Jesus referred to a story from the Old Testament where the Israelites had been punished with poisonous snake bites. To save them, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole and lift it before the people. When the people simply looked at the serpent on the pole, they were healed. Similarly, Jesus explained that he would be lifted (on a Cross) for our healing from the poison of sin. The simple, unadorned act of looking to Jesus’ Work on the Cross as the answer to our sin problem grants us Eternal Life and a place in God’s Family.

Salvation is beautifully simple—so simple a child can understand it and believe it. Sadly, we often complicate it, burdening people with unnecessary steps that make Salvation seem like a difficult process.

Salvation is a free Gift obtained by simple faith in Jesus. When we understand this, sharing our faith becomes all about declaring Jesus as the Remedy for sins, and not about fulfilling prerequisites.

Salvation is not a series of steps but a single leap of faith towards Christ’s open Arms. Today, I challenge you to embrace this clarity and share it. Revel in the great joy of Jesus’ Forgiveness and Love, and tell someone else how they too can be simply saved.