Are you "saved"?

"Saved"—one of our great Churchian phrases. It's great for defining who's in and who's out. It lets us categorize everyone as saved or unsaved and rest in the assurance that we who are saved are better than those who are not. But how can you tell who's saved? You don't always have access to the response cards¹ to see who checked which box, so there has to be some other measuring stick.

"You will know them by their fruit"²

We Churchians all know what that means, right? It means that you can tell who's in and who's out by how well they follow the rules, how often they go to church and what kinds of good deeds they do. Growing up in Churchian circles, I learned two Very Important Things: Jesus wants to give you the totally free gift of salvation; and there is a long list of rules you'll need to follow once you accept that totally free gift. Huh?

It's a classic bait-and-switch tactic:

Here's this free gift! Take it! We'll talk later about the monthly membership fees. And the lifestyle restrictions. And you'll probably need to take some classes to learn how to follow all the rules associated with this totally free, no-strings-attached gift. It'll be great!

Why can't we get more people to sign on for this deal?³

And the real question: why are we Churchians so invested in making up rules and complicating the simple gift Jesus offers?

Well...accepting charity is hard on the self-esteem. If we accept that Jesus really doesn't want or need anything from us, we have to come to terms with accepting his charity. Who wants to feel like they're in need of someone's help? Not me. I like to think that I'm pretty self-sufficient and have my, um, "stuff" together. Could that be why I've spent so many years being proud of my rule-following and good works? "Yeah, me and God, we're friends. He saved me and stuff because he needs me to follow all these rules and help him with things. Totally a give-and-take relationship."

Nope.

The truth is that we suck. I suck. I'm basically clueless, useless and not nice, and I need God. He doesn't need anything from me.

This is not a balanced relationship.

So then, what do we have to be all proud of ourselves about? We love this "us against them", "I'm OK and they're not" mentality that lets us feel like we're better than those poor unsaved saps. But it's pretty ridiculous, isn't it?

So, are you "saved"? Am I?

Well...I'd have to say I am in the process of being saved. Jesus is saving me from sin, from myself, and from Churchianity, but that process is nowhere near complete. "Getting saved"⁴ is not an event, when we step over a magical line separating the good guys from the bad guys. It's a process...a journey. So how about if we worry less about categorizing people and show some grace⁵ to people⁶, wherever they are on the road?

1. The documents many churches collect in order to compile statistics on people's spiritual progress.
2. Matthew 7:16
3. Not a real question, by the way.
4. Please...can we just stop using this phrase?
5. For examples of grace, read about Jesus.
6. Yes, even to fellow Churchians.