We love to talk about “Personal Salvation”. The trouble is, this term never appears in the Bible. Sure, there’s heaps of Salvation in there; but its never “personal”.
I wonder if this focus on “personal” salvation has made us inadvertently self-focussed? I mean, many of us worry about our own salvation. We come to church and converse over whether salvation comes through works or by grace, but we are always talking about our salvation. It’s almost as if we are asking “what mush I do to be saved?”
There was a young man who came to Jesus with this exact question (see Luke 18:18-29). Jesus lists off a few Commandments, and the man replies “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
I can hear him saying “I know about those rules, and I’ve been diligently following them my entire life. I’m quite concerned, actually, about whether I’ve been trying hard enough. You see, I’m constantly disturbed by the thought that I might not make it into eternal life. I constantly examine myself, looking for anything that might jeopardise my personal salvation.”
And Jesus’ reply is shocking.
“There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Jesus might be saying “I know. I know how concerned you are about your personal salvation. I know that it causes you to constantly be examining your life and holding it up against the rule-book. I know all of that. But what about all these other people? I think it would be healthy for you to worry about them for a little while.”
As true followers of the self-sacrificing Jesus, maybe we should make the salvation of others our primary focus. Shifting from “personal” salvation to “other-people-I-interact-with” salvation is not easy. But it is biblical.
Remember Moses, when he returns from Mt Sinai to find the Israelites worshipping a golden calf? God tells Moses he might destroy them all. Moses pleads with God, and even offers his own life in exchange for the “salvation” of the nation. Moses was not so focused on “personal” salvation, but on personal sacrifice.
Jesus had that same approach to life. And to death.
So maybe we should stop asking the question “what must I do to be saved?” and start asking “how can I offer ’salvation’ to others?” This might be salvation in the full spiritual sense, or it might be some other sort of “salvation”. Jesus asked the rich young man to use his material wealth in a saving-of-others way. Maybe we are called to save our neighbour from slavery, or poverty, or depression, or lonliness, or …
It would be ironic if this shift away from concentrating on “personal” salvation became the very thing that most assuredly guaranteed our Salvation.
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