Salvation

I am currently reading through I Peter, and I noticed something interesting in the first chapter. It is something that I have noticed before, so it isn't something new to me, but I have been thinking about it and wanted to share with you.

In the first chapter, there is this focus on salvation. But the interesting thing is that each time the word is used, it is future tense. Even though this is written to Christians, who supposedly have already been "saved" there is still this future tense, as if it is something to look forward to.

But if you think about it, that is what salvation is. It is not something that happened to you in the past only, it is past, present, and future.

In Philippians 1:6, Paul states, "Be confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you, will (continue to) perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Can you see the past, present, and future in this verse? He began it. He is currently performing it. And He will continue this Work until the very end, when it will be completed.

True Salvation is not something that gives you the stamp of approval into heaven. It also isn't a ticket, or a voucher. It is something that changes you.

Here is I Peter 1:3-9. I hope that this passages stirs up in you the same hope that is stirred up in me, that my salvation is not over yet. I know that I am saved, and that I am being saved, and that I will be saved!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.