Isaiah 12:2-6
Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
After a long and grueling foot race, a runner reached for a glass of water puffing out the words, "This water is my salvation!" A worker who had a family crisis gushed to a friend who agreed to cover his shift, "You are my salvation!" The drunk at the end of the bar lifts the shot glass to his lips and sighs into the drink, "You are my salvation."
We often think of many things or people as saving us. But as the illustrations show, we sometimes trivialize, if not demean, the idea of salvation. Other times we are capable of giving substance to the idea. The heroic firefighter who pulls a little girl from a burning building, the research scientist who develops a vaccine, the friend who accepts a blow for another, there are indeed a million different ways in which people save one another.
These kinds of saving echo the salvation that we find in God. The "water that we draw from the well of salvation" is the water of a special kind of love. It is the saving love of a God who created and loves us. It is the healing love of a God who would bind us up and heal us.
When we lean into God's salvation, we lean away from fear and into trust. When we place God at the center of our lives as our salvation, we ourselves become capable of saving.
Such a statement may lead some to think that we are placing ourselves on a par with God. Not so. But it is true that Jesus called us to greater things than he did (John 14:12). Surely, our salvation is in God and God alone. Yet, if we have found that salvation, we will be changed into ones who offer that self-same saving love to others. This is what Paul writes about in Romans 12 when he calls upon the church not to be conformed to this world, but "transformed."
Those who have found their salvation in God are indeed transformed. They are a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). And as people transformed by God's love we, too, will begin to share that transformation life. This is a holy partnership. This is the call to those who wait upon the coming of the Messiah. Yes, indeed, a mighty one is coming, but this Savior does not intend to leave us as we are.
We often think of many things or people as saving us. But as the illustrations show, we sometimes trivialize, if not demean, the idea of salvation. Other times we are capable of giving substance to the idea. The heroic firefighter who pulls a little girl from a burning building, the research scientist who develops a vaccine, the friend who accepts a blow for another, there are indeed a million different ways in which people save one another.
These kinds of saving echo the salvation that we find in God. The "water that we draw from the well of salvation" is the water of a special kind of love. It is the saving love of a God who created and loves us. It is the healing love of a God who would bind us up and heal us.
When we lean into God's salvation, we lean away from fear and into trust. When we place God at the center of our lives as our salvation, we ourselves become capable of saving.
Such a statement may lead some to think that we are placing ourselves on a par with God. Not so. But it is true that Jesus called us to greater things than he did (John 14:12). Surely, our salvation is in God and God alone. Yet, if we have found that salvation, we will be changed into ones who offer that self-same saving love to others. This is what Paul writes about in Romans 12 when he calls upon the church not to be conformed to this world, but "transformed."
Those who have found their salvation in God are indeed transformed. They are a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). And as people transformed by God's love we, too, will begin to share that transformation life. This is a holy partnership. This is the call to those who wait upon the coming of the Messiah. Yes, indeed, a mighty one is coming, but this Savior does not intend to leave us as we are.
