Life Spark: Jesus wants to save us to something. (John 3:16)
Jesus Christ wants to save us from some bad things. Just before His death, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds yelled ‘Hosanna,’ which means ‘save us, we pray.’
“Save.” We’ve shrunk the word by narrowing it to mean a pass out of hell, a ticket into heaven. God does save us from the wrong eternal address, but He saves us not only from something, but to something.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV)
“…shall not perish…” He saves us from eternal death. If He is our savior, we won’t perish, we won’t be ruined, we won’t be disconnected from God forever. “…but have eternal life.” He saves us to a whole new dimension of aliveness, now and forever.
When the Israelites were saved from slavery in Egypt, they were meant to be blessed in the promised land. Sadly, almost all of them failed to make it into the land God had prepared for them. They experienced part of their salvation, but failed to experience the rest.
I’m afraid the same things happen today.
When Christ becomes our savior, we are saved into a new aliveness that is deeper, richer, longer and stronger. That new aliveness starts now and lasts forever.
Don’t settle for being saved from hell, from eternal death. As great as that is, we must be aware that we are saved to live a life on earth that becomes more and more like the fully-alive life Jesus modeled. We can start living the first part of eternal life right now, 24/7.
Life-action: Stop tonight before you go to bed and thank God for one thing that you appreciate being ‘saved to’ today. (e.g. – A life with purpose. Unselfishness. Joy.)