Convinced

             For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (II Corinthians 5:14-15)

 

          You’ve probably heard a couple of romantic notions in some stories. The first is that if your life is saved by someone, you are forever in their debt. It’s not a debt that one should complain about, because your attitude should be gratitude for having a life at all. The other, somewhat less expressed, is that if you save the life of another, you are then responsible for them. And, of course, since you saved their life, your hope would be that their behavior would be such as to not make the task of responsibility an unduly cumbersome one.

            That sense pervades today’s passage. Since He died for us, we who live as a result should live for Him. And if He died for us and we are to live for Him, it is entirely reasonable that He should continue to guide and protect us. Otherwise, can we really say that our lives have been saved in the first place?

            But here’s the problem that some of us encounter. We don’t have a real sense of having been saved from death. We have been taught that it’s true, and we are convinced of it as a historical fact, but we are also convinced that we don’t have a spectacular or miraculous salvation story. We weren’t in desperate trouble when we were saved; we were saved from desperate trouble. For example, God never had to bring me out of alcoholism because I don’t like the burn of alcohol, so I don’t drink it. But if He had not given me a strong distaste for alcohol, I’d probably be a drunk because what I do, I don’t tend to do by halves. And most of the time, while I’m aware of that, I don’t think of it as having been or needing to be saved.

                This is an area where we need to pray for clearer vision, greater wisdom, or deeper understanding.