If you spend any amount of time in Christian circles, you will hear people talk about how they were “saved.” I think that if we were all to be perfectly honest, the idea of being saved does not sound particularly attractive. For the sake of clarification, I looked up the definition of the word and it says:
1. to rescue from danger or possible harm, injury, or loss
2. to keep safe, intact, or unhurt; safeguard; preserve
    The idea of being saved does not carry a whole lot of weight with it unless there is something or someone to be saved from. For example, if I told you that I saved someone from drowning you would wholeheartedly agree with my usage of the word “saved” in this context. What I am implying when I say that I saved someone from drowning is that the person I saved had no capacity to save themselves from what would have been their inevitable fate. I believe that sometimes however, the word “saved” can seem offensive when Christians use it in a spiritual context.
    If I tell you that you need to get saved, I am implying something about you that you may not accept as truth. I am communicating to you that you are in a position where you are in trouble. Not only am I communicating to you that you are in trouble but I am also communicating that you are incapable of saving yourself from this troublesome spot. This is why it sounds so weird when someone says that they got “saved.” The average listener is probably asking themself a lot of questions when they hear a statement like that.
1. Saved from what?
2. Why were you so helpless that you needed to be saved?
3. Are you actually implying that I need to be saved as well?
    The questions can go on and on but the idea of needing to be “saved” is not something that most people really resonate with. The Bible does emphatically assert that Jesus came to be the Savior of the world. What this actually means is that he came to be the Savior of each individual person. One of the primary challenges that still drastically impedes his mission today amongst those who claim to be followers of Christ and those who do not is that we all generally feel like we don’t need any saving. We can handle it on our own. We can figure it out on our own. We don’t need anyone. We are quite alright and there is no need for intervention.
    We tend to look at people who need to be “saved” as people to be pitied and we are glad that we are not like that. This is one of the essential problems that keeps distance between man and God. Jesus coming to the world communicates that we need salvation but we reject this message because of the implications that it carries. Either we humble ourselves and accept that Jesus would not come to save us if we were okay on our own or we reject the Christian message entirely. There really is no middle ground.
