"But I am poor and needy;
Please hurry to my aid, O God.
You are My helper and My Savior;
O Lord, do not delay!" (NLT)
I need a Savior.
As I have gotten older, I’ve become more and more self-aware, aware of my limitations, aware of my faults, aware of actually how little control I have on my life. But more than that, I’m aware of how close I live to the abyss, to the point at where I am lost and alone and terrified of life.
All of us, in the darkness, when we can no longer try to pretend, live in the same place. There is that moment when life threatens to crash in, destroying the "best laid plans of mice and men" and we realize that we are facing a future for which we are totally unprepared. It doesn’t matter how much we think we are prepared. The forces which battle for this earth are far greater than our limited resources, far stronger than our feeble strength, more far reaching than we ever could imagine. It doesn’t matter whether or not you buy into the idea of global conspiracies, fatalism, or the power of optimism. It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a conservative, a liberal, or an independent. It doesn’t matter whether or not you live in a developed nation or a developing one. The fact is—the undeniable fact is—there are powers at work beyond our control and life, at the very point that we thought we had all of our ducks in a row, has a habit of crashing in and destroying all our hopes, our plans, and our futures.
We need a Savior.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV).
The battle exists on a spiritual level. That means that regardless of the laws we pass, regardless of the government under which we live, regardless of the efforts that we make to change our society, the battle goes on and it can only be fought at a spiritual level. The battle may appear to be in another realm; it may appear to be societal, political, financial, or legal, but it’s not! The only battle against humankind, the only battle that’s being waged, the only battle we need to address is the spiritual battle of Satan and his minions against the Almighty God and His armies. There is no other battle!
It’s taken me a long time to realize that every attack, every heartache, every struggle is related. The hurts of this world seem so diverse, so disconnected. The daughter of a famous singer lying in a coma. The persecution of Christians by a terrorist group. The passing of laws limiting the exercise of religious beliefs. The increase of resources for the rich and the decrease of resources for the poor. The divorce of a dear friend. A child suffering from cancer. The increase of autism and Alzheimer’s. The loss of jobs. The increase in the price of food. The list goes on and on of the events and circumstances which bring suffering into the lives of those we know and those we know of. And yet, if we take the Bible at it’s word, if we believe that what the Holy Spirit has said is true, then there is only one battle and what’s at stake are the eternal souls of everyone who has every lived.
I think of horrible tragedies, homes burning down or terrible car accidents. But when people walk away alive, the common agreement is, "You can replace stuff. You can’t replace lives." As Christians, we need to begin to have that kind of perspective, but on a far greater, more significant level. You can’t replace souls. Souls are eternal; everyone has one. And the battle that’s waging is for our very souls.
We need a Savior.
A number of years ago, I had a nervous breakdown. While many of my friends didn’t realize what was happening to me, I was spending most of my days sitting in a corner of my walk-in closet. I didn’t eat. I didn’t take care of my children. I didn’t help around the house. I simply sat in a closet, terrified of life. Twice a week I’d get dressed and go to church. I had a "role" I could act out and, in the comfort of that structure, I was able to function for brief periods of time. But most of the time, I was paralyzed by the anger, hurt, and fear that permeated my life. My beloved doctor tried various drugs, to no success. Most of them actually made me crazier!
What I needed was a Savior.
Oh, I believe I was still a Christian during that time, but I needed the Holy Spirit to reach in and tear away my self-pity. Only when my dear husband came and prayed for me, a prayer of desperation that God Himself would release me from the prison I’d created, did I begin to get better. I so needed a Savior because I was unable to save myself.
The world is unable to save itself. Different laws won’t save us. Different spouses or jobs won’t save us. Different doctors or lawyers or religious structures won’t save us. We need a Savior. We need the Savior. Only in His power and through His will can the spiritual battle that is the foundational problem of everything be won. And we need more than a Savior at the end of an aisle when we said the "sinner’s prayer." We need the Savior every day for every moment that we face life.
We need the Savior!
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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