I must be careful, Lord, not to simplify Your salvation. Too often I have dismissed salvation as merely the forgiveness of my sins, whereas it is far more extensive than that. “With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation” (Psalm 91:16, NSRB). Lord, my salvation is an intensely personal thing and Your purpose for me is to show me how Your salvation has worked in my life.
My life is not only afflicted with sin, but with sin’s results. Those results have permeated every corner of my personality, infecting my feelings, attitudes, and instincts. To be forgiven the penalty of my sins is primary and basic, but to be delivered from all the damage sin has done is God’s purpose for me until He can bring me to the place where He can show me His salvation. The joy of God’s salvation is that He sent His Son not only to save sinners but to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, italics added).
The biblical concept of salvation is basically deliverance. The gospel that Jesus came to proclaim includes the “opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1, Berkeley). He not only breaks the chains that bind me, but also leads me out of the prison into sunlight and liberty. He delivers me from the twists and turns of my own deviousness, from surliness and selfishness, from prejudice and hate, from dismal doubt and unbelief, from oppression by Satan and my own ego, and from my inner lustings and cravings. By the time God is finished with me at the end of my life, I will recognize that He has done an amazing work in me; I will “see” His salvation. That in itself will cause me to praise His name everlastingly, and give me the joy of His salvation. Lord, in that day “my tongue shall declare Thy righteousness and Thy praise all day long” (Psalm 35:28).
“And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Daily with the King 