Saved... but from what?

by Elizabeth Curry,
Children's Ministry Team member and M&M Choir Director

I grew up in a Christian home and have been a Christian all my life, making it “official” at the age of 7 at a Billy Graham Crusade. It has been a blessing to always know God’s love, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. But, for those of us who were “good Christian kids” there is also a little problem: We don’t really believe that there was all that much sin to take away.

As a child and for much of my early adult life, I could always find something to confess at the proper time. But these were superficial things, little things. They were not great big ugly transgressions… the kind that make for really interesting testimonies. I led a quiet Christian life, with no great big sins, but no great acts of faith, either.

Without a real sense of one’s sin, the Gospel is eviscerated. In my head I knew I needed a savior. After all, I wasn’t perfect. But I only needed a little savior. All that changed when we stepped out in faith and became adoptive parents. I thought God was using me to bring love to a child, when in fact He was using the child to show me His love.

The road to my son and I learning to love each other was hard. His negative emotions stirred my own and I felt things that I didn’t know I could feel. It was as though I could suddenly peer into the depth of my own soul and what I saw horrified me. I could no longer pretend I was the “good girl”.

But, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Psalm 32:1, ESV) For the first time in my life I saw that I did indeed need a savior who could cover my sin, because for the first time I saw my sin as it really was. It has changed my life. Because how could I not proclaim my love for a God who would take all that ugliness I saw within myself and not only love me anyway, but love me so much that He would make it vanish by heaping it onto Himself?

“but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:10b-11 ESV)