Our Need for a Savior

Back in college, I was still of the mindset that if I behaved and performed well, God would reward me accordingly. And because I did the “right” things and got good grades, I assumed my post-college life would be smooth sailing. I expected that once graduation rolled around, I’d have a big plan—a big job—something I could tell people that would make their eyebrows go up an inch, showing that they were impressed.

But by March of my senior year, with just a couple months until the end of the semester and graduation looming, I still had no plans. The country was facing a recession. I had no job. No prospects. And I was angry at God, frustrated that I had no direction for the future, and convinced He had forgotten me. Slowly, my heart began to rebel against God, growing cold and guarded. I didn’t believe He cared about me, and so I withdrew from Him. In anger, I did all the things I knew in my heart weren’t His best for me. I would call them mistakes, except my actions were entirely intentional. I ran directly toward sin, only to end up feeling burned and ashamed.

The good news of Christ is so good because the bad news is so bad. And what’s the bad news? Not much has changed since the time of Noah. In Mark 7:21, Jesus told a crowd that what defiles a person isn’t from the outside, but what comes from the heart. All you have to do is turn on the news to see that evil still reigns in this world. But the worst of us comes from within. I have extreme memories that remind me of my wayward heart. I also have daily decisions, moments when I put aside my devotion to Christ and serve my whims, appetites, and desires.

My heart is a place of longing, doubt, and restlessness. I seek out quick comfort and distraction long before I seek God’s counsel and righteousness. I need a Savior, not to save me from sin out there. I need a Savior to save me from myself. The flood isn’t the world of other people. The most dangerous flood is the faithlessness of my heart. I need an ark. A hiding place. A safe haven from the deluge of my own desire and rebellion that would take me far from God.

God has given me such a Savior.

There is nothing I can do to remove His love from me. The door to the ark is always open. The covenant will not change. The destruction I deserve is not coming for me. “Though the mountains move and the hills shake, [His] love will not be removed from [us]” (Isaiah 54:10).

The good news is so good: Jesus is far better than any wooden boat that spares my life from external destruction. Jesus provides shelter and safety when the floodwaters of my own disobedience have risen too high for me to see. He takes me up in His arms and tells me there is no condemnation. Nothing can separate me from His love. Not even me.