FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Saturday, January 19, 2008,9:31 p.m.
RESCUED
I've been pondering the word rescue this afternoon. We often describe what Jesus did for us as "saving" us. I don't really think the word rescue has any more to offer than save except for the fact that it's fresh.
Saved, at least at the moment, immediately sends my mind flying to Jesus and the cross. Rescue, on the other hand, conjures up visions of knights and dragons and damsels in distress. It sends my mind flying to black and white films and that barely-diverted catastrophe where the hero dives in at the last minute to save the girl tied to the train tracks, while the bad guy in his black cloak and top hat twists his mustache in frustration. (How come that's never used anymore, anyway? Such a classic....)
When I think saved I think of the cross, but I usually think of the knowledge of the cross, not always the emotional impact of it. It is useless to say that our faith and relationship with God should not have an emotional part to it - it is a love relationship, it will have emotion. So why when I use the word saved am I so comfortable with it?
When I think of Jesus rescuing me, I am forced to think of what it is from which He rescued me. I think of the quite serious danger from which I was powerless to free myself. I think of the love that He must have for me to make Him not only risk so much but actually give so much in ransom. And I think in some sense I see myself slightly differently - not as an obligation or even as a creation, but as a beloved.
And beloveds are always rescued.
Praise the Almighty God.
"The Wonder of the Cross" (Vicky Beeching)
Saved, at least at the moment, immediately sends my mind flying to Jesus and the cross. Rescue, on the other hand, conjures up visions of knights and dragons and damsels in distress. It sends my mind flying to black and white films and that barely-diverted catastrophe where the hero dives in at the last minute to save the girl tied to the train tracks, while the bad guy in his black cloak and top hat twists his mustache in frustration. (How come that's never used anymore, anyway? Such a classic....)
When I think saved I think of the cross, but I usually think of the knowledge of the cross, not always the emotional impact of it. It is useless to say that our faith and relationship with God should not have an emotional part to it - it is a love relationship, it will have emotion. So why when I use the word saved am I so comfortable with it?
When I think of Jesus rescuing me, I am forced to think of what it is from which He rescued me. I think of the quite serious danger from which I was powerless to free myself. I think of the love that He must have for me to make Him not only risk so much but actually give so much in ransom. And I think in some sense I see myself slightly differently - not as an obligation or even as a creation, but as a beloved.
And beloveds are always rescued.
Praise the Almighty God.
"May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time, standing as a sinner lost.
Undone by mercy and left speechless, watching wide-eyed at the cost,
May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the cross."
"The Wonder of the Cross" (Vicky Beeching)
