Salvation – what a beautiful gift given to the world by God Himself. The Father sent his only Son to earth, a God and King of all creation, to be born as a man whose purpose was be a blameless sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. He became the final sacrificial lamb, went into hell and took the keys of sin and death, was raised from the dead and ushered in a new covenant as our mediator.
This amazing sacrifice provided a way for all to know God and have relationship with Him. That by believing with our hearts and confessing with our mouths that He was raised from the dead, we are saved and our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus. He took the judgement and wrath of God upon Himself so we could be spared, saved and brought into the family of God.
Wow! When I think about who Jesus truly is, what He did and all He sacrificed so I could be saved for eternity, I feel overwhelmed. When I first accepted God’s gift of salvation I intellectually understood what I was receiving. I mentally grasped the concept of salvation, but it took time for my heart to receive it.
When I allowed God to be a part of my life and began building a relationship with Him, I fell in love with Him. My heart was for Him and I wanted to serve Him. It was a beautiful and satisfying thing to know Him. The struggle that came, in this development, was with sin and knowing I would never be able to stop as long as I am in this body. It was hard to see that my sin hurt the one I loved, who did so much for me.
The more exact struggle I was having was the ability to receive His amazing gift of love. This unbelievable act of sacrifice He did all so He could be with me. He did it because He wanted to be with me. He received my judgement and sentence, when he was completely blameless and innocent, all so I wouldn’t have to and be separated from Him.
Thoughts I remember having through this struggle were, “You’ve done too much for me”, “I will keep hurting you with my sin”, “All you’ve asked in return is for me to believe and receive. It’s too much”. By receiving a gift that large deep in my heart, I would have to let God deeper inside. I would be dependent on Him.
It was about ten years after giving my life to Him, I was in a place of brokenness, and this struggle for deeper intimacy with God was about to come to an end. I remember the day it happened that I truly received His gift of love, through salvation. He prepared my heart to receive it, to open up and let Him in. There was nothing I had to do but just let His Spirit do the work.
I was driving my car home from school and in a moment my mind opened, then my heart opened and all the sudden I understood grace and received his sacrifice of love in my heart. Then came an overwhelming sense of peace that everything was ok and my heart was filled with His Love. The guilt, shame and unworthiness of His love disappeared and a deeper bond was made.
I know today that being weak in my humanness is ok because His sacrifice covers it all and I will never be separated from Him. His Grace is sufficient for me.