We just finished celebrating our nation’s 250th anniversary. I assume many of us got together with family and friends, attended parades, watched fireworks displays, and clothed ourselves in red, white, and blue.
With the festivities having concluded – now what?
Hopefully we continue to be thankful for our freedoms, participate in our democracy, and enjoy the blessings of living in the USA. It is easy to take for granted all that it means to live in America in the times that we do. It is easy to take for granted all the sacrifices that have been made for us to get to this point. That is why it is good to remember; good to celebrate.
There is a strong parallel to our Christian faith too. For those who believe in Jesus, we can easily take for granted all the blessings God has given us – forgiveness, victory over sin and death, being adopted into His family etc.
I find it helpful to remember that my salvation is not just a past event. It is also a present process and a future promise too.
Sometimes I take for granted that our salvation has a past, present, and future aspect to it. We have been saved, we are being saved, we will be saved.
It is easy to only dwell on the past aspect of our salvation. For many of us it was a momentous decision. Whatever it looked like - praying a prayer, walking an aisle, in a big crowd, or all alone – committing our life to Christ saves us from sin’s penalty and power. When we trust in Christ as our Savior, we have been saved from sin. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved…”. Salvation is something we can claim and possess by trusting in Jesus.
But it is also a path we walk on. Paul says in Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you…”. He says something similar in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1:18). Theologians call this the process of sanctification, where God conforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ.
The past and present aspects of salvation assure us that we have been saved and we are being saved. And the future aspect of our salvation is what we have to look forward to. It is the completion of our salvation, where all the promises of God will be realized, we will be perfected, and sin will be no more.
Romans 5:9-10 brings the whole process together, summarizing it this way: “Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?”
We
have a glorious future ahead of us. Our past has been forgiven by God, our
present is empowered by God, and our future will be with God. The past,
present, and future aspects of our salvation are the ultimate blessings to
celebrate, enjoy, and share with those around us. Let’s never lose sight of
those truths and never take them for granted.
