One of the greatest benefits of God‘s provision is that He rescues us from ourselves.
I look in the mirror and see how much I’ve changed over the years. Gravity has taken a toll on my body. Every body part that can fall has fallen by at least four inches. Yet, one thing that has not changed is that 60 years ago Jesus saved me from my sins. In a way, Jesus saved me from myself.
We have all heard the story of Paul and the Philippians jailer. Paul and Silas were in jail in Philippi. They weren’t upset or disturbed. They were praying and singing when there was an earthquake. All the jail doors were opened but none of the prisoners escaped.
The jailer understood that something supernatural had happened. He fell on his knees and pleaded with Paul asking, “What must I do to be saved.”
Paul didn’t go into complicated explanations or details about the history of Israel or the fulfillment of prophesy. He told the jailer to simply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved–you and all the people in your house” (Acts 16:31).
God did not make salvation complicated. When my daughter Carol was five years old, she overheard a conversation I was having with an adult who was a new Christian. The new convert didn’t understand something from the Bible. Carol, in her innocence said, “Tell me what you don’t understand and I will explain it to you.”
The steps to receiving Jesus are not hard but simple. When I attended my last course to receive my master’s degree, the course was on evangelism (which is how to tell people about Jesus). Telling people about God’s love used to be hard for me; but now Jesus has done so much that I have a lot to talk about.
The more I love Jesus, the more I know that he has saved me from myself. He wants to change me and make me a better person. In the many months that my mother was in the hospital, people were drawn to my mother‘s room because they knew something was different about her. She would openly pray and share Jesus with anyone who would listen–and lots of people did want to hear what she had to say.
When we tell others about Jesus, we are being changed ourselves. Paul did not have to tell the Philippian jailer that he was different. Paul’s life screamed out the contrasts. Jesus had saved Paul from himself and made him more like Jesus. The Lord makes us different people by saving us from ourselves.
