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Perhaps you have seen a television program showing the video taken from police cars as they pull over motorists. Some videos show how people struggle with the police or attempt to escape. But one that I remember showed how desperately a man was trying to talk his way out of a speeding ticket. The audio captured his panicked voice as he was willing to do anything to avoid being charged with a moving violation. His last plea was, “Is there anything, anything at all that I can do to get you to let me go?”
This man was looking for mercy, not justice. He knew that he was guilty and did not wish to face what he deserved. Instead, he was looking for some means by which he could be saved from the consequences of his actions.
Although we probably would not go to the extremes of this man, we can certainly relate to his desire to not be accountable for what he had done. Guilt is not pleasant and when we are guilty we do not look forward to punishment of any type. Even a pet who does something wrong will show affection and flash loving eyes in an attempt to avoid punishment.
Salvation is defined as a “preservation or deliverance from destruction, difficulty or evil. A source, means, or cause of such preservation or deliverance.” With regard to Christianity, it is “deliverance from the power or penalty of sin; redemption. The agent or means that brings about such deliverance.”
Trying to talk your way out of a ticket is an attempt to avoid a penalty for our actions. If we are not charged at that point, then we will likely not ever be charged for that infraction.
But with our spiritual lives this is not the case. Some people mistakenly believe that if God doesn’t punish them immediately then their actions must be ok. Not so.
Paul tells us in Romans 14:12 that, “each of us shall give account of himself to God.” This includes every action, every word and every thought during our lives.
It is at this point that we can truly appreciate that we need mercy and not justice. None of us live without errors or sins that occur in our lives. We need salvation.
So imagine the worst sin that one could commit and think about how desperate that person would be to escape the penalty for that action. What sin would you think that was? Lying, adultery, murder? How about the murder of God’s Son, Jesus?
Consider then how the crowd must have felt on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. This was just seven weeks after the crucifixion of Jesus and Jesus had, of course, risen from the grave and walked among the people for 40 days afterwards. Now He has ascended to Heaven and Peter is preaching a powerful sermon that causes everyone there to reflect on how they caused the death of Jesus. This reading is from Acts 2:36-39.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
I can’t imagine any sin worse than causing the death of God’s Son. And I can’t imagine a motivation as strong at to know that you are guilty as charged and that judgment is coming your way. Salvation is needed.
Any sin will separate us from God unless we take the steps to learn of salvation and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it takes a realization of our sinful condition before we can be properly motivated to search for salvation.
That motorist that was pleading for the policeman to let him go was more than happy to drive along breaking the law. He feared nothing until the police arrived and placed his actions under scrutiny.
Perhaps it is that way with us as well. Until we feel the scrutiny of God on our actions we may not be properly motivated to find the salvation that God is offering.
On Our Daily Walk today, may we stop this hour and realize that not only are we not perfect, but that we are in need of salvation from God. May we humble ourselves before our Creator and may we obey His will in order to secure our salvation.
Our thought for the day: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Peter, Acts 4:12
May God bless you on your daily walk.
© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.
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