Advent
December 13, 2018

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely God is my salvation;
   I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.
 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted. –Isaiah 12:2-4

Salvation:
1 a: deliverance from the power and effects of sin:  the spiritual saving of humankind especially from damnation
   b:  the means or agent of such saving or deliverance
2:  liberation from ignorance or illusion:  deliverance from clinging to the phenomenal world of appearance and final union with ultimate reality*

God’s rescue which delivers believers out of destruction and into His safety**

I wonder how many people who proclaim their faith in God and Jesus Christ believe they need to be delivered from the power and effects of sin. I recall two ways to salvation from my youth. One described by the phrase, “Once saved always saved.” Another was salvation by works, doing good and following Jesus’ teachings. There are, of course, dangers in both approaches.  People who subscribed to the “once saved always saved” viewpoint are tempted to take salvation for granted and fail to address their personal spiritual needs and their calling to help others. They may have a sense that they are elect people. We might identify white privilege in this category. People who invest all their energies in doing good works and following Jesus’ teachings may think they are the source of their own salvation. Of course, problems arise when they become selective or even judgmental about defining good works and the limitations of the love Jesus modeled. These are the folks who may ask, “who is my neighbor?”

Our scripture today is describing a higher plain ruled by love, absent self-interest because in God’s love we are made whole.

Prayer: Lord, help us to know the fullness of your love as we grow in faith and in loving you more dearly as we love our neighbors more nearly. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/salvation
**https://biblehub.com/greek/4991.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.