Not Quite Saved?
Scripture Reading — Acts 16:29-34
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…”
—Acts 16:31
The fact that you’re reading these devotions suggests that you probably have some idea of what it means to be saved.
Saved is a familiar word, and yet it can mean different things to people in different places along the journey of faith.
For some, it can mean going back to church.
For others, it may mean agreeing with certain ideas in Christianity.
For yet others, being saved may mean being willing to feel guilty over sins they used to take pride in.
As God leads us, each faith-growing experience inevitably involves some kind of minor surrender—as when you face a crisis and seek direction, looking to God to sustain you along the way.
If you let God lead you along a series of surrenders, you’re eventually going reach a “tipping point” where something inside you realizes that you simply need to hand everything over to the God who’s been guiding you through the fog.
You can tell this has happened when you start worrying less about getting God’s help for what you want and instead start to wonder what he really wants for you. Instead of wanting God to find your way, you’re seeking his way.
Have you been saved like that?
Lord, it’s easy for us to follow you without surrendering to you. Please claim us for yourself. We ask this in your name. Amen.
About the author — Ron Vanderwell
Ron Vanderwell recently became the senior pastor of New Life Church in New Lenox, Illinois. He has been a pastor for 22 years, serving as a church planter for the previous 12 years at The Gathering in Sacramento, California, and before that as a pastor in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ron and his wife, Deb, have three sons: John, Adam, and Jake.
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