Jesus


 

Everyone who calls on the name of the will be saved.  Romans 10:13

 
Salvation is a funny thing.  It seems that it is often misunderstood. I know I’ve struggled in that area and sometimes still do. Although, praise God, that is rare these days.  When Jesus died on the Cross that was a once and for all sacrifice on his part. However, we need saving more than once. Now, I don’t mean saving in the sense of eternal salvation.  I mean saving from, as in one day I may need saving from fear. The next day or week it might be pride.  We have been saved by Jesus for eternal life. (John 3:16) but there is so much more to it.

Look at John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” When the thief arrives at my door, attempting to steal my peace he does it in various ways.  The success of those tactics is pretty much up to me. Just this week I’ve had several opportunities to, if not panic, at least get quite anxious. I am sad to say that even thirty plus years into my close relationship with Jesus my go to position is, “oh no!” Not good! Thanks be to God this week I have stopped, listened and spoken the name of Jesus and a word of praise. Guess who won? Jesus, of course.

I am human, flawed and forgetful.  I do not for one minute expect you to believe that I will never panic or become fearful again.  Like you, I will also experience God’s “no” and feel the disappointment that brings.  In those times I will try to remember that God sees the whole picture and that His ways are perfect, right and best. Given the progress of this week I am confident that the turnaround time from my next disappointment or “no” will be swifter but I can’t know that for sure. What I do know is that God is for us which means only a fool would come against us. (Romans 8:31)

Life on Earth is hard and it brings with it myriad opportunities for worry, fear, pride, and arrogance. The name of Jesus can strike those and any of their cohorts, down in less than a millisecond. Try it. The very next time you are willingly giving your peace to the enemy, to the thief at your door, say the name of Jesus. It’s great if you can quote a Scripture but it isn’t essential. Just say Jesus. Say it softly, in a whisper. Speak it in conversational tones or scream it out at the top of your lungs. Volume doesn’t matter, heart does. If we say that name, call it out like a child who is fearful or hurt yells, “Mommy!” then we will feel that unexplainable peace rush in.

Jesus. By his precious name we are saved, once for all, yes, but also over and over and over and over again.  The thief came to destroy and one failure, one million failures will not deter him. So answer him every time with the name that came to give abundant life, the name of Jesus.

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