Born to Save (Thought for December 2018)

He did not come to judge the world,

He did not come to blame,

He did not only come to seek,

It was to save he came -

And when we call him Saviour,

And when we call him Saviour,

And when we call him Saviour,

Then we call him by his name.

Do you remember that chorus. Perhaps you sang it in years gone by. Of course, it’s referring to Jesus’ first coming. In fact one version of the third and fourth lines is:

He only came to save the world,

And Jesus is his name.

We need to remember that he made it quite clear that a day will come when he will judge the world -

Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed

i.e. Jesus Christ – but for now, in God’s mercy and grace, he has come to save those who will repent and believe on him.

Question is, can you ‘call him Saviour’ – can you truthfully refer to Jesus as ‘my Saviour’? We’ve often sung the song ‘My Jesus, my Saviour’ – but is he your Saviour?

At Christmas a lot is made of giving gifts, or presents, to relatives and friends – and many manufacturers and retailers depend on sales at Christmas-time for their businesses to survive. This past week Sandra and I have visited several Christmas markets in York and around, and these type of markets at-tract multitudes looking for gifts to purchase.

But the origin, or symbolism of gift giving is complete-ly forgotten as people cannot believe that the com-ing of the baby Jesus, and the salvation he would purchase by dying for their sins on the cross, was a gift – the most expensive and precious gift we could imagine, but a gift nevertheless. If people have any desire to please God, they imagine that they must somehow ‘buy’ it by trying to be good – to do good, and by the same token, not do harm to their neigh-bour. But God’s gift that was so needed by this sinful world was in his only Son, who was, yes ‘Born to save’

Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reading a comment on my tear-off calendar the other day by Lynn Shatford, she says that it is estimated that every year, almost a billion dollars worth of gift cards go unused. Bought and paid for, they lie inactive by millions of people. “What a waste,” you might think. But, friend, have you accepted the gift God Himself has given you? Bought and paid for by the death of His only Son, the Lord Jesus, does this priceless gift remain ‘unopened’ in your life?

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow. Elvina M Hall

Thanks be to God for his unspeakable, indescribable, inexpressible, priceless, free gift! 2 Corinthians 9: 15 (various versions)

Elder

December 2018