"Salvation comes from the word salus, which means healing. It is not dependent on feeling or any person's response to me. It is not a theory believed, a theology proclaimed or a group that gives one identity. It is an inner clarity that forever allows one to recognize bogus authority and pseudo-surrender. This salvation cannot be acquired by a simple process of self-examination or new insight or ego possession. It is a gift received when the will has given up control and we are standing in that threshold place which allows us to see anew. Suffering, failure, rejection and loss can lead to this same threshold."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p. 251)
Occasionally I'll hear an ad that claims something is free. And then under the person's breath somewhat you hear just pay shipping and handling. At that point of course it is no longer free. Sometimes the string attached is a return after a certain date, again that is not free.
But the word free is very tempting. I know people that will say "if it's free it's for me." Okay I get that, sort of. But what about salvation. We are told in Isaiah that salvation is freely offered. God wants you and me to have it. All I have to do is accept it.
I'll have to admit that every time I've ever been asked if I've been saved, I usually wait to hear the equivalent of just pay shipping and handling. Am I saved? I believe I am. I don't feel it. I just know it. I don't worry about whether someone else thinks I am, they're not the one that gets to decide.
I like that inner clarity idea. I can usually spot the bogus and the pseudo. Someone who talks a good game, but walks somewhat lame. That having things go wrong is a way to experience salvation is true. I haven't hit rock bottom, and hope I never do. But those times when I've been disappointed or hurt, the fact that I've not been utterly destroyed is an example of the salvation I've accepted and claimed as my own.
Blessings,
Ed
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