August 21, 2022 Daily Dose of Discernment

“Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” (Luke 13:23)

What does is it mean to be saved? What are we saved from? Some think it’s simply getting to heaven when we die and escaping eternal punishment in hell. If that’s the case, why not just end our lives after doing whatever we need to do to secure that?

Jesus responded to the question above with a parable in which he equated salvation with partaking of the feast in the kingdom of God. However, the Bible says the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It’s about the pursuit of the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. And Jesus describes the way into this kingdom as a narrow door which very few successfully enter. People from the east, west, north and south will take part in it, not those who merely hold to a form of godliness and hear His teachings but don’t obey them. To be saved, then, is to live after the manner of the kingdom here and now as we usher its coming in to our world.