When God’s children are reached through Jesus by his wonderful saving grace, they go out with joy in their hearts—or at least they should—to the four corners of the earth to proclaim the gospel of salvation! In brief, the message is: “Hey, I have been saved, and you can be saved too!” That is more than merely very good. It is what we have been called to do. It is our duty, out of gratitude and obedience alike.
It is worth observing that this is clearly no ordinary announcement: it is filled with power, since the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Nevertheless, I would like to highlight a point that should lead us to reflect.
Rather than make a statement, I invite you to discover this information for yourself. Choose ten genuine Christians in your social circle and ask them, “Have you been saved?” If you have chosen men and women who truly love God, every one of them will say, “Yes, of course!” Good. Now ask them a second question: “What have you been saved from?”
You will immediately notice that this second answer does not carry the same strong conviction you heard in the first. Finally, ask them a third and last question: “What do you mean?” Sadly, many will not know how to answer, or will answer in a confused way, revealing that it is not clear and straightforward to them.
Perhaps even you, reading or listening to this text, are already feeling uncomfortable because this is not entirely clear to you.
The point is this: People cannot consider the possibility of being saved if they do not think they are lost. When a sinful woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, a Pharisee challenged him, and Jesus told him, “Where little forgiveness is needed, little love is revealed.”
The extent of your lostness is proportional to the extent of your salvation. The less lost you think you are, the less grateful you will be for your salvation. Gratitude may disappear altogether if your heart becomes so hardened that it no longer recognises your lostness.
You depend on God to be saved, not only when you became a child of God, but also for his salvation to be at work in your daily life, in every circumstance you face. Recognise today how much you need God. Seek to see how lost you were without him, and answer the questions above for yourself. Then watch an atmosphere of gratitude spring up, grow and multiply, reaching those around you.
Hugo Jordão, Kingdom Worship Team
