by Lauren Ashley

Created on: August 21, 2009

To answer this question, it almost seems necessary to begin with what salvation is not. Salvation is not a process. It is not a way of life. It is not a feeling, an emotion, experience, or, dare I say it, a commitment that changes a life.

Think of it this way: Let's say you are drowning (I know, not a very pleasant thought; but believe me, imagining your pet rock in a similar scenario would not have the same effect no matter how much you love it. Bear with me, this only lasts half a paragraph.). Below you is 10ft of water, above you is 4ft of water. So there you are, 4 feet under water, legs and arms flailing about in all directions, and suddenly you see a rope not 5 inches from your right arm. In such a situation, salvation for you could be defined in one word: Rope. You, of course, reach out and take hold of it; a person then pulls you out of the water using the rope and you are saved. Afterwards, the press gathers around you and the whole world waits to hear how you were rescued from the water. What do you do? Well, you don't write out a 10-step, rope-grabbing process, or talk about the life-changing commitment that you made when you grabbed the rope. No! You say I was drowning, I saw a rope, and I reached out and grabbed it!.

It is the same way with the salvation of a soul. So often we try to make it out to be a long, drawn-out process. When in reality, it was as easy as taking hold of a rope. Since all have sinned, and the 'wages of sin is death', we were, and some still are, drowning in the sea of sin. Often times our arms and legs are flailing about in vain with our own good works, trying in desperation to stay afloat. But God saw us, and sent us a rope, that rope was Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life that we could not, so we could get credit for His life; and on the cross, He received credit for our lives. The wages of sin is, and always will be, death, but that death was given to Jesus. What is salvation? Salvation is Jesus, and Jesus is like that rope. We need only grab hold of Him.

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