Saved from what?

The LORD then passed in front of him and called out, “I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness.
Exodus 34:6

R.C. Sproul once told a story of how he taught a class and asked that they hand in an assignment by a certain date. A few students were late, begged for mercy, and he postponed their deadline. The month after that, 30 students were not done in time. After postponing their deadline too, the month after that half the class was late with their assignment. This time Sproul gave an F to whoever didn’t hand in the assignment on time, and got the response “That’s not fair”, and he replied that “fair” would’ve been failing everyone who were late. The students got so used to the grace; they were no longer able to appreciate it.

Sometimes we do the same with God. It is easy to take his salvation and his grace for granted. He is full of compassion and love. But let’s stop for a moment. Why did he have to save us? We are saved from what? The answer is that we are saved from God’s wrath! Until we fully comprehend the ugliness and the horror of the sin, we will not be able to appreciate what he saved us from. God hates sin. See Isaiah 64:6-7, Psalm 5:6,7:12. Since we know this, how God abhors sin, and since we know that nothing can be hidden from him (Hebrews4:13), and that “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Hebrews10:31), we can start to understand better why the salvation is such a grace. But do we also understand that we do not deserve it, and it’s all God’s loving grace?

Why did God save us? Why does he want us to be with Him for eternity? The best and most noble cause there is – for His glory! “I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing.” (Ezekiel 36:32)

Let us humble ourselves before the Lord and thank him for his grace that he has given us. To be able to be called children of God, and to be loved by him. ” The LORD will take delight in you, and in his love he will give you new life. He will sing and be joyful over you” (Zephania3:17) – we do not deserve this love. It is all a gift from Him. Let’s embrace it and rid ourselves of sins that hold us back.

Read Hebrews 12 and go forward strengthened in the amazing grace of God.