Like any close community, Christianity has jargon.
You know what I mean. The words and phrases we use that have a specific significance to us and only us. So much so that they can also act as a shorthand for whole paragraphs of context.
One such is the word “saved.” What does it mean anyway?
It means we’ve been rescued from a life without God. But more importantly, that old life is gone, dead and buried. We’re a new “us” in every single way. When we’re saved, we accept Jesus—inheriting every aspect of who He is.
“Saved” means that nothing from our past can affect us in our present or our future unless we allow it.
Every bad choice. Every strike against us. Every hostility and error and regret and condemnation has been removed from us—wiped away by Christ’s sacrifice.
The old you is dead, and who you are now has been raised up to walk again, reborn into a new life.
So the fact of sin, with all of the consequences and weight that sin brings to a life, has been removed from the equation. We simply don’t have to deal with that burden any longer, and with that weight lifted from our shoulders, we no longer have to deal with guilt, or shame, or regret, or the bitterness, depression and anxiety that follows on from them.
“Saved” means that whatever the situation or feeling, it is now our pleasure and our privilege to bring all that Jesus is into all that we are not.
All of our focus is on the fact of Christ in our lives. He came to earth as the Son Of Man, to live a sinless life and be our sacrifice. He now lives in us as the victorious, glorious Son Of God, to commission us to walk in His grace and favor.
This is the art of thinking brilliantly. When our old person was replaced with the new, we were no longer required to improve and work on that old self. Just like when you’ve replaced a chair you don’t continue to repair the old one, so when you are in Jesus there’s no need to return to your old self. We simply turn away from fear and doubt. We embrace perfect love, trust and favor.
P.S. When you have trouble with this, try listing every lie in your life, and then list the opposite of each negative thing. You can throw the first list away now. The second list is your personal record of every little thing that God is doing in your life, every upgrade waiting for you.
Take your time. Lovingly craft that list, have fun with it! It’s the instruction manual to transform you into another person. Lay the old you down at the foot of the Cross, because the nature of God has swallowed up every form of death: then, now and forever!
P.P.S. If interested in learning more about this art of thinking brilliantly, get the MP3 recording here.
