Barely Saved

“…he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through flames.”
1 Co 3:15

Being saved is merely the beginning of our spiritual journey, not the ending, yet many people don’t seem to believe this by the way they act after they become Christians.

“Now what?” Some newly-weds may ask this question after they tie the knot and must from then on face the nitty gritty of living together as a couple, adjusting to each other’s idiosyncrasies, which may be more difficult than they ever imagined.

“There has to be a lot more than just this,” some couples may grumble, feeling a little dismayed about the prospect of spending their entire lives with a person for whom they may have started to develop a sense of contempt.

The passion between lovers may easily turn into a fiery furnace in which they are confined if they fail to convert their erotic love for each other into agape love. Our marriage will definitely thrive if we cultivate and nurture it according to God’s commands.

We can’t help but to fall in love with Jesus if we come to know him as he is. Unfortunately many Christians only know him as a Savior, not as a soul mate with whom we may have intimate friendship and fellowship. What the Lord desires to find in his children the most isn’t necessarily holiness or faithfulness; it is their deep love for him that he truly craves. Of course we will likely have the former if we have the latter. The two are not mutually exclusive. We know the reason why he wasn’t pleased with the church in Ephesus as depicted in the book of Revelation – they had lost their first love.

Love is what sustains all things in life and pure love is the only article that can withstand the test of fire. Apart from their love for God, even martyrs die in vain. What will remain on earth after we pass on and what we will take away with us into eternity are works of charity and nothing else. They are the tasks we perform primarily for the love of God and secondary for the love of our neighbors. Nothing beyond these things will remain after they are put to the fire.

I believe what my father-in-law has done with his life has gone forward before he himself moves on into eternity. He seems to be joyful yet the earthly tent of his has ceased to serve him as it used to and he appears to be more suitable for heaven than this world. He remains on earth merely for his children’s sake, but his life will be much fuller if he moves on, for unlike some of us who are saved by the skin of our teeth because of our lack of love for God and our fellowmen, he will just enter into heaven gracefully when the time comes. I pray that the love of God will sustain me like it has grandpa till the end and I will do all things out of nothing else but my love for God.

What kind of shape will we be in when we finally return home to our Father? Will we be like the prodigal son who ran to his father after he merely escaped from the flames of the sinful world?