The Simply Complex Truth of Salvation

Salvation—a word that means so much and yet remains a mystery to even those who have spent their entire lives as believers in Christ. Many of us who have studied our Bibles and Sabbath School lessons have come to understand and know the story of salvation and its process. But knowing about something and experiencing it are not the same. As I studied this week’s lesson, I kept coming back to the same question: Do I understand salvation and my role in it?

Reconciled

We start by acknowledging that we are sinners in need of salvation. This is the first step in accepting and receiving forgiveness and salvation—the acknowledgment of our sinful ways and our need for a Savior. Sin disconnected us from our heavenly Father and brought the world into the state it is in now. It changed our nature, the way we think, what we desire, and how we live. It disrupts and threatens relationships.

As a child I remember that the biggest lesson I learned from my mother was always to be willing to ask for forgiveness and to find a way to make up after a fight. I can still hear her saying in Spanish, “No se ponga el sol sobre vuestro enojo,” translated, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Eph. 4:26). Like any mother and daughter, we got into our share of arguments. But after every disagreement, once the dust settled inside of me, once the tears of anger stopped flowing, there was that nagging feeling that surfaced to seek reconciliation. I cannot tell you how many notes asking her to forgive me I slipped under her bedroom door, or how many times I walked quietly behind her while she cooked, and hugged her, hoping she’d accept my silent plea for a truce.

Little did I understand at the time that my mom had helped me discover the power of forgiveness and the gift of reconciliation. She taught me the importance of recognizing my wrongs and having the deep desire not to remain in conflict but to restore the relationship by doing away with my pride. Now, years later, I am reminded that pride only delays the peace I can enjoy if I return to God’s arms. And because my apologies as a child were always accepted with love and mercy, I expect nothing less from my heavenly Father.

And isn’t that the critical piece in it all? The hope that we can cherish of knowing that “it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:19, 20). What an overwhelming joy to know that although we were the ones who turned from Him, it was God who took the first step in reconciling us to Him. As the lesson points out, “the cross, far from being a passive symbol, becomes an active reality” in our lives. Our role is to accept and cherish Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, thereby making reconciliation with our God a reality, reflected in our decision to choose Him again and again.

Childlike Faith

When I was a child, it seemed easier to believe and trust. Unfortunately, we don’t remain children, innocent and naive, but grow up and lose that childlike faith. The beauty of being a child is that you believe everything you are told.

Don’t you miss being told you were loved, and not having to wonder if it’s real or how long it will last? Or being told you’re special and not having a second thought that might declare otherwise? Sadly, through heartbreak and disappointments, we learn that we cannot trust everything we are told. This reality affects our relationships here on earth, and even more important, our relationship with God and His Word.

Our role is to accept and cherish Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, thereby making reconciliation with our God a reality, reflected in our decision to choose Him again and again.

The lesson highlights various parts of the everlasting gospel. The first is an easier fact to accept: Jesus came to die for our sins because we could not save ourselves. We can acknowledge our need for a Savior and for reconciliation and forgiveness. But it’s the second part that gets tricky: It’s the concept of a love that can actually forgive all transgressions and free us from the guilt and shame of our past when we simply believe in Christ as our Savior. This notion feels almost impossible at times, and we can therefore easily become cynical about the transformative love of God.

As I sat, thought about, and tried to process that second part, I realized the importance of shifting one’s perspective. I can be skeptical and not believe that a love that good exists—that’s the easier choice—or I can read between the lines of God’s amazing gift to humanity. Our God could have forgiven us and left us at that. But He knew that our own guilt and shame would blind us to His love and would continue to expand the abyss already between us. So our loving Father offers us forgiveness, and He takes it one step further by providing us with the freedom from the guilt and punishment of our past transgressions.

You might smile while reading this and rejoice in the reminder of this truth, and yet your world doesn’t always look like this. We make mistakes, and although we might ask for forgiveness and even be granted it, the guilt of our actions is not something we or those we have transgressed against can easily erase from memory. And how many times have we been hurt and find ways to remind those who have hurt us of their shortcomings? Believing in God’s Word is believing, not just the parts that are easy for us to accept, but also those that challenge the ways we think and live.

What then is our role in experiencing God’s plan of salvation for ourselves? It is to take a leap of faith and believe, with a childlike faith, that God loves us in a way we have never experienced. Our role is to take Him at His word. To believe that when God says He has loved you with an everlasting love, and that He now presents you “holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Col. 1:22), He means it.

Continuing, Remaining, Maturing

“Nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” These famous words were spoken by the fictional boxer Rocky. I never thought that a quote from a movie I’ve never watched in its totality would speak to me so profoundly in my own walk with God and my own understanding of salvation.

Currently, as I navigate some of life’s “hits,” hurdles, and struggles that have made me question my own faith and God’s care, I am reminded that all I am called to do is to believe that His love is real, that His sacrifice is enough, and to keep moving forward. I don’t need to be “better” before I can experience Him; it is Christ in us who makes us better, or, as the lesson puts it, “Christ’s dwelling in the heart by faith.”

As much as we might understand this, we must remember it not only when things are going great but also in our moments of darkness, when we perhaps have made mistakes, when we think there is no way God still loves us after this. Let us remember that this is indeed a walk, a journey, a process of growing. And growth takes time. But in those moments I pray that you are as comforted as I am by the words of my favorite scripture: “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9, 10).