Many times I have been approached by a person asking: “Are you saved?” I was raised in evangelical religion so I knew what they were asking. My common answer is yes. I try not to get involved in religious discourse.
But one day a young girl asked me that question. Then she told me she wasn’t worthy of God’s love until she accepted Jesus as her Savior. He had died for her sins. Accepting that belief made her worthy of God’s love.
I remembered my early struggles between religion and logic. I could not reconcile the differences and left the church. On one hand I was told God is love and on the other that He would sacrifice His own son to Himself for the sins of the world. Just didn’t make any sense.
I know well the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, I do not see the hand of God in it. It was the priests that wanted Jesus eliminated. Jesus was preaching love for all, forgiveness for all. Jesus was not preaching rules, rites, and protocol of a religion. He was preaching unconditional love for all. It was something new and the priests felt appalled that this teaching would excel their message and wanted Jesus exterminated. They were willing to tell any lie, go to any length to kill Jesus, and they succeeded.
I explained my thoughts of God to the young girl, telling her worthiness is freely given by God. Everyone is worthy of God’s unconditional love. It is the very essence of God to be forgiving, and loving. Jesus’ teachings tell us the nature of God. Jesus speaks for God, not man. The young girl relaxed her frown of determination to save me. Believing the teachings of Jesus, I was never lost.
© 2019, Lekatt. All rights reserved.
