God has sacrificed so much, Christ has sacrificed so much to see that His children can return to their true home.
Salvation is between God and each of His children individually. No one else may act as a mediator, no one else can stand in the way and no one but God has a say as to who is in and who is out.
Jesus is the Latin version of the Hebrew name Yeshua or Joshua in English. It means "God saves." Which is where the Jesus saves billboards and neon signs with His name crossed with the word "saves" come from.
We are all slaves to our sins and to our senses, to the material at the expense of the spiritual. Jesus has paid for our freedom in His Atonement. We are free. We can chose to return home with Him.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:32-36
If Jesus has paid for our freedom with His blood, with His life then who can deny us the salvation that He gave us? Who can step in between Christ and any of God's children to say we are not worthy? God has made us worthy through His grace. If the Master's son has set us free no Pharisee can deny us what our one true Father has given us.
But in modern life we serve Mammon everyday of the week and on our day off we pay Christ our respects. We are slaves to a materialistic system because we go to work everyday to pay our bills then we work some more to pay even more.We are anxious about the future and depressed about the past never fully living in the present. We drive to our work or back home, to get groceries or to the laundromat and don't remember the drive over because we live on autopilot when we have rare and precious free time. Then we die never truly having lived.
We were meant for more than to spend our lives working jobs we hate to buy stuff we don't need. You are not the contents of your wallet, your are not how much money you have in the bank, you are not the car you drive. You cannot assess your character based on the hotness of your spouse.
What we are is based on the content of our character, the way we treat others, the way we talk about others, the way we talk to others. We are the moments and memories we make with others. We are the impact of our life on the lives of others. We are also the absence we leave in the lives of others.
We are the joy, the laughter, the cries, the dreams-realized and still to come, we are the imprint of our souls on the souls of others. We are the service rendered to those who can do nothing for us. We are the kindness we respond to hate with.So if who we are is so complex and sophisticated, if we can not be limited in any mold, if we are classified as black or white in an infinite universe full of color and life then how can we classify others so easily? How can we judge the book of someone's life based on the chapter we walked in on?Others may judge us harshly based on their limited or non existent knowledge of us and our journey but God will judge them by the same standard with which they have judged. Which is why it is crucial that we not judge. It is paramount that we each respond to hate and hurt by trying to understand the other person rather than judging or plotting revenge.When Christ said we are, as His disciples, to love one another as He loved us and by that all shall know we are His disciples, what if He means that we are to get to really know others because you can't love a person you don't know. Jesus said this:
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21
If we value God how can we diminish His children? If we recognize the beauty within ourselves or family and friends how much more does God love them? How much more does God love those we hate because they are His children and He knows them infinitely better than we ever will. Who are we to say they are unworthy of that love?
If our heart follows what it is we treasure then all that is required to love someone, an enemy or a stranger, is that we must treasure them. We must truly get to know them as well as we know ourselves if we are to love one another as He loved us and as much as we love ourselves.
Our salvation cannot be denied by anyone. And we cannot deny anyone else their salvation, but if we truly understood, knew, loved and respected ever single child of God, would we want to?
All are worthy of God's love.
All are worthy of our love.