The Flight That Saves

Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.   Romans 5:1, NASB

It is not our faith that justifies. Faith is simply the way we come to Christ. It is the way you receive what Christ gives.

A notorious woman came to Jesus and poured perfume over his feet and wiped them with her hair. Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50). But the reason her faith saved her was that it brought her to Christ! The men who brought their friend to Jesus lowered the lame man through the roof (see Mark 2:4). Their faith caused them to bring their friend to Jesus so he could heal him.

The world rightly objects to the idea that certain people will be saved just because they happen to believe the right things. After all, Muslims believe one thing, Hindus believe another, and Buddhists still another, not to mention us Christians. So we’re often asked, “How can any sane person possibly think that one group will be saved just because they happen to have the ‘right’ beliefs?”

The next time somebody challenges you with that question, tell the person that he or she is absolutely right. We do not believe that faith has some magical or mystical power to save people. We do not believe that we are taken into heaven by certain beliefs. Now you may be thinking, Wait a minute, doesn’t the Bible say, “We are justified by faith”? And “Whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life”? Yes. But it is not faith that saves us; it is Christ who saves us.

My friend Joy, who had been severely burned, was flown by medevac to a hospital that specializes in treating burn victims. When we say, “The flight saved her life,” we understand that it brought her to the physician who treated her condition. The flight saved her only in the sense that it brought her to the doctor.

Faith is like the flight that brings us to Christ. The reason you will enter heaven on the last day is not your faith. It is Christ. Faith is simply the way you come to Christ, the one who saves you.

For further reading, see Luke 7