Guest Post: God’s Love Saves Us

Another writer friend is sharing her words with us on my blog today.  Please visit her website for more beauty.  Enjoy!

I’M KEAGAN, A CHRISTIAN COMMUNICATOR AND AUTHOR.

There are only a few things in this life that make my heart skip a beat.  

Jesus.  Family.  People.

I am often caught off guard by the grace and mercy of my Jesus.  He redeemed me from the pit, and continues to lavishly love me.  He has captivated me, and it humbles me that  he chooses to use me to play a part in his great story.  I serve people by teaching them the truth of the Word that they may see God more clearly as I speak to groups of women or disciple women.

I was never a “bad girl.”  I never was the type of girl that partied.  I never did drugs.  I never snuck out.  I had good friends.  I hung out at the church for fun; if you needed me, that’s where you could find me.  In fact, I was a good girl.

 Or so it seemed.

See, I was born into bad.  I was born sinful.  Nobody had to teach me to lie, steal, cheat, be selfish, nurse anger, or hold bitterness.  I grew up at church and knew all the right things to say and do.  I became a Christian at the age of 7, and, sure, there was change.  It was obvious that Christ had taken over my life, but there was still so much flesh to be removed.

I held on to much of my selfishness and pride throughout high school and college, but what I didn’t know is what God was doing.  See, John 3:16 tells us that God loved us so much that he sent his son to give his children eternal life.  That’s only the beginning.  In light of eternity, what does salvation mean?  It means that what he saved us from is ourselves.

He saved us from a highway straight to hell.  We are no longer condemned to make wrong, uninformed decisions that reflect the selfish, prideful condition of our hearts.  He didn’t leave us where we are, but he came to save us because he defeated death.  John 16:33 tells us that he has overcome the world.  He has defeated all that is slanderous, prideful, and selfish in us.  He refused to leave us in a condition that would leave us rotting in death.

I gradually realized that even in my salvation, I still had rotting flesh that needed to be extracted.  Sure, I wasn’t bad then, but I also wasn’t holy or righteous.  But God, in his extravagant love, sent his Son to meet us in the middle of this mess to save us from more than just the sins that seem big enough to condemn us to hell; he sent his Son to save us from all the small things that can sneak in and destroy us.  These little things are the ones that require us to workout our salvation, the ones that require us to continually be sanctified.

How do we know and experience God’s great love for us?  We accept that even in our salvation, we need saved from ourselves.  We are in process, and that is a beautiful thing.  God loves us enough to dig in, get his hands dirty, and shape us into a reflection of Himself.

Thank you Keagan!  Check out www.keagankhayden.com for more!