I have always been this way since becoming a Christian at age eleven. I was the awkward sixth grade kid who wore a ginormous cross around my neck for my school picture. My locker was decked out in bumper stickers that proclaimed "My God is an AWESOME God," and I often wore T-shirts like these...
I can remember going around my neighborhood, knocking on doors to tell people about Jesus alongside members of my Junior high youth group. Later in college, I'd go on weekend "beach reach" retreats where we would comb the beach to talk to people and ask them questions about their faith...which often included point-blank questions about whether or not they were "saved." (yes, always an awkward situation when you are talking about Jesus dressed in a Christian T-shirt with a scantily-clad stranger).
And so...well, you get the idea.
Saved. Born-again. Ahhh...those simple, concise, beautiful tag-line words we modern Evangelicals love to hear out of one another's mouths to check our box and move on to the next project--urrr, umm...I mean person.
While my evangelical tactics have changed in my later years, I have had the opportunity to talk to close friends and family about matters of salvation. But these days, I know the person fairly well. We have a history together. We have things in common (even if it is "just" motherhood). I take the time to dialog with them. Listen. Learn what they believe and why. But there often comes a point in a relationship when you have to sort of cross the threshold and truly ask about whether or not a person has a saving relationship with Christ.
In fact, a few months ago, I was in prayer for a few dear friends of mine whom I was not sure whether or not they were "saved." I am talking heart-and-soul prayer...going-through-a-half-a-box-of-tissues, being an emotional, sobbing mess...while my soul felt like it was being rend in two by the thought of not spending eternity with these amazing beautiful people!! It was pretty intense! (I can see what Paul was talking about when he spoke about "laboring" in prayer...and this coming from a mama who has endured three natural childbirths!)
Fortunately, the Lord has since given me a LOT of peace about this issue and lessened my intense burden to pray for these friends in this way. And while doing so, He has taught me Whom to trust and what not to trust. He has lessened my dependence upon the catch phrases "accepted Jesus into my heart" or one's need to "pray to receive Christ" (neither of which you will find in the Scriptures, mind you!). In short, He has challenged my 21st century, modern Evangelical mindset and approach to evangelism. Perhaps having a saving relationship with Jesus needs to move beyond the word "saved" and "born-again."
WHAT?! You might be saying...THESE WORDS ARE IN THE SCRIPTURES!!
Absolutely! And I do NOT minimize that in any way, shape, or form. However, when you do a broad-brush look at the word "saved" in the Bible it is quite a complex study indeed. In fact, you will find it in every tense of the word--saved, saving, will save. It almost seems to be more of a process than an event, and one that spans from eternity past into eternity future (I think of it in terms of pregnancy--we are conceived, developed and birthed--the birthing process from womb to world is just a pinpoint moment in the entire process of bringing a new person to life!).
Suffice it to say that salvation is never depicted in Scripture as a turning point which occurs when one says a particular prayer or makes an intellectual or even willful decision. Instead, in the Old Testament, we see salvation as part of God's covenant with His people--a sparing of His chosen people through the Flood waters, a preservation from the famine as He feeds His people through the grain preserved by Joseph in Egypt, granting a life-giving protection during the Passover in Egypt, and then bringing them out of slavery in the Exodus. We see it involving covenant promises made to God's people and extending to their children through circumcision. In the New Testament, we hear Jesus speak of salvation in terms of heart-life-and-soul discipleship, where one must "take up one's cross and follow Him" (Luke 9:23). When salvation comes to a household, it affects its finances (Zaccheaus, Luke 19) and often involves the baptism of the entire family (sort of ala circumcision...see Philippian jailer, Acts 16: 31-33). Salvation isn't easy. It does not just involve merely belief as we think of it today.
"Belief" in our English language involves an intellectual assent, a religious conviction, or firmly held opinion (Oxford dictionary). However, "belief" in the Bible means to have faith but also implies obedience. In fact, the opposite of belief is NOT disbelief, as one might assume. Rather, it is disobedience! It is pretty clear in the Greek and is used throughout the NT Scriptures:
apeitheia (disobedience; Greek, Strong's 542) = willful unbelief, obstinency, disobedence
So where does this lead us? Well, first of all, we ought to recognize that in our sharing of the gospel, we ought never depend upon catch phrases such as "saved" and "born-again" to determine whether someone has a saving relationship with Jesus Christ (as if we could ever really know the heart of someone anyway!!). Let us dig deeper. Let us dialogue with and get to truly know and love people on deeper level. Let us wrestle in prayer at the soul level for others and look to God to lift our burden while doing so. Truly, only God knows what is in our hearts and in others' hearts, and only He has written the Names in the Book of Life (Phil 4:3, Rev 3:5, 13:8)!
This gives me peace, friend, and I hope it does for you, too.
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