Jesus Saves

The other night I had a hard time falling asleep. I stayed up later than normal, reading, and when I finally crawled under the covers and turned out the light I couldn't fall asleep. I tossed and turned for a long time as thoughts rolled around my head. I was thinking about Fritz, remembering the night of the calling hours, the funeral, standing at the front of the room greeting friends and family who came to see us. Crying with some, laughing with a few. I was thinking about our neighbor Skip. I was shocked to learn that he died of a heart attack in his sleep a few days earlier. The girls have been friends with his daughter for years, and I would frequently stop and talk with Skip when I was out walking the dog. We would always talk about God. The girls and I felt like we should show them our support by going to the calling hours. It was hard. As soon as we pulled into the funeral home I was fighting to hold back the tears. Same funeral home. Same gentlemen at the door. Same room where Fritz had been. I was frozen. I felt like I couldn't move to walk up the aisle, to stand in front of the casket and to greet his wife and daughter. Everything came flooding back to me as if I had been transported through time and I was back where we were six months ago. The thoughts and memories tossed and turned in my mind as I tossed and turned in my bed that night.
Skip never spoke as if he thought of himself as a Christian but he always had lots of questions and seemed to like talking about God with me. I enjoyed talking with him as well but knew the worst thing I could do was to say something that caused him to walk away from God instead of to God. I wanted Skip to know that God loves him and that He saves His people.
A few months ago Pastor Daniel was teaching from the book of Romans. Romans chapter eight. One Sunday I fervently scribbled notes about 'no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.' Rom. 8:1. Skip is so hard on himself. He would mention that he is doing better than he used to but he would slip back into his old ways. Skip is really intense. Highly emotional. But he had such a compassionate, tender heart for those he loved. I would tell him that God is gracious and extends His love to all. (Sometimes we find ourselves in the most unexpected circumstances when we realize we are right where God wants us in order to use us.)
As I listened to the sermon that Sunday and scribbled my notes as fast as I could, my mind kept going back to the conversation I had with Skip the day before. We stood talking for a long time. I came home from church and took out a notecard and began re-writing my notes from the sermon in a letter to Skip. God had put Skip on my mind that day and I knew if I did not immediately obey....I would disobey. I tucked the note I had written about our freedom in Christ and tucked it into a Lifepoint Church bible to give to him. I just wanted him to know that if he indeed is in Christ, then he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. And there is no condemnation. I leashed up the dog and started out walking  towards his house. That afternoon the neighborhood was quiet, no one to talk to. So I decided to stick the note and the bible in his mailbox. As I walked away I wondered when I would see him again and talk some more. I never did.
As I lay there trying to sleep the other night I was praying for Skip's wife and daughters that God will fill their lives with the peace of knowing Him, the God who saves His people. I was also thinking about my friend Sue. She is battling cancer for the second time. I pray that God will do a miracle in her body and save her. Afterall, that is God's specialty, saving His people. That is exactly what His name Jehovah Y'shua means. God who is saving His people. You could translate it to say, Jesus saves. Romans chapter eight teaches us that He doesn't always save people from disease or heart attack, but he saves people from sin, a life of eternal separation from Him. He doesn't always save people from the death of the body, but he does save people from the sinful nature which leads to the death of our spirit. The sinful nature is in each of us from the time we were born. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. The sinful nature is hostile to God and does not submit to God. The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. In this hope we are saved.
We are saved by placing our hope in Jesus. Jesus who saves. Jesus saves. Y'shua is the God who is saving His people. He saves us because He loves us! Neither death nor life, not angels or demons, the present nor the future, nor any powers. Not height or depth or anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He promises life and peace.
As I tossed and turned these thoughts in my mind that night I thanked God that He is saving Fritz, and Skip, and my friend Sue, and me and you.