“Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he had and buys that field.”
Matthew 13:44

I write a lot about salvation. It fascinates me. You see, I was one of those who had lightning bolt experience. I had a defining millisecond of time that separated the man I used to be from the man I am today. Actually, we all do. Whether salvation is realized immediately or over time doesn’t change the miracle that occurred. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all came together in one point in space and time for a specific purpose – to redeem your soul.

Getting an appointment with a doctor or a dentist is no small undertaking. You can’t walk into a doctor’s office at your convenience and expect to see him/her. Heck, you can’t even talk to the doctor about making an appointment. You have to talk to someone else just to try figure out a time that the doctor might be available. You might not even be able to get that far without first having another doctor give you a letter of referral.

You see, the more important someone is, the less likely that you’ll be able to see him/her. What’s incredible in salvation is that all three persons of the godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – come to see YOU. They met in your body to do their business (to heal/save/transform/redeem). I believe the bible is clear that they do that without your knowledge and that they had set the time of this appointment long before you were a twinkle in your father’s eye.

Up until that appointment, none of us have a desire to be part of such a meeting. Sure, some of us may have been religious, even very religious, but only to serve of god of our own imagination. None of us were the least interested in serving God under his terms. We always had our own agenda that prevented us from being part of his. Apart from his intervention, we always will.

Considering how ornery and ungrateful humans are, it makes you wonder why God even bothers with us. The answer in that lies not with us but with the Father and Son. You see, the church is the Father’s gift to the Son. It’s a demonstration of God’s love to his Son. Frankly, it’s a strange gift because it is broken. It doesn’t work. In fact, it is hostile to both the Son AND the Father, so much so that they can’t even let it in the house. Think about that for a minute. I’m sure that you are careful who you allow into your own home. Some people never get an invitation. Others show up, but you won’t allow them in. That’s the same with God. Our selfishness and sin will make a complete ruin of his beautiful home; therefore, he won’t even consider letting us in as we are.

Now this story gets even more strange. The Father doesn’t give all humans to the Son, just some of them, but these are no different than all the rest. Even though few in number, they are just as hostile as ever, just as useless as ever or so it seems. But they aren’t. Jesus can fix them. In fact, he can restore them so that they shine just as brightly as he does. His bride can be lifted up and transformed to perfection so that you would never know that there was anything ever wrong. And, she will always stay in that condition. Restored cars rust and deteriorate. Restored humans don’t.

Why? Because of who is restoring us and how he did it. I don’t know how all this stuff works, but I do know that it was a very costly project. In fact, it cost Jesus his life; and because of it, the bride will enjoy all of eternity in his presence. With God.

What a crazy story! Disney has crazy stories, but they are just that – stories. This one is real. How do I know that? Because something very strange happened to me. Something big, something that radically changed my life, the way I look at things, the way I do things. I’m a new person, inside and out.

I didn’t want this. I wanted help to stop drinking. I didn’t want to be a bible-thumper or Jesus freak. Hardly! Booze was my problem, and I wanted help with that. End of story. But it wasn’t the end of the story for God. In fact, it was only the beginning. I changed my perspective, expectations, and desires because he changed everything about me. I’m now a bride for his Son. My husband died for this privilege.

And I have this book that perfectly explains everything! It’s a complicated book. I had seen it before, but it didn’t make any sense then. It does now. It makes a lot of sense. And I’m not alone. There are others like me. Lots of them! We are a small percentage compared to those who are different than us, but there are still lots of us. We know this stuff to be true.

And the book told of things to come that in fact did come true. And things happen when we pray to our Father. Everything is so, so different that we trust and know that the promises yet to happen indeed will. We will enjoy eternity in heaven. God will be with us. He will be our God and we will be his people. Forever changed to last forever.

My goodness! It blows me away just thinking about it!

Father, once again, I’m left with nothing to say but, “Thank you.” Amen.

Copyright © 2020 Scott Powers