John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

I think that often times we have a wrong focus when it comes to the purpose of salvation. Quite often people get saved and think the reason they got saved was so that they did not have to go to Hell, but rather that they could go to Heaven. Though this is a true result, going to Heaven and not to Hell, this is not the primary purpose of salvation. At the fall when Adam sinned, death was the punishment for his sin, and what is death? Death is separation, separation of the soul from the physical body, and separation of the spirit from God. Even more than the eventual loss of life, was the loss of communication/fellowship with God.

Focusing on the soul’s eternal destination may convince someone to receive Jesus as Savior, but often it causes them to miss the point of being saved. When one views salvation only in light of eternal destination, they only view salvation as a “fire escape.” They are not receiving Christ for any more reason than to not have to spend an eternity in Hell! As I said above, though this is a positive product of salvation, it is not the primary goal. By focusing on eternal destination, instead of the true purpose of salvation, we are raising generations of weak and unprofitable Christians.

Instead of focusing on the eternal destination we should be focusing on the purpose of salvation, which is Life! Now some may say, “Is not going to heaven, life?” It is, but life is so much more than that. Paul says in Eph 2:1, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,” he is not saying that we were physically dead, as it is clear that salvation does not raise the physical body from the dead, instead he is talking about the spirit of man. At the fall our souls died and lost all fellowship with God, and as John 17:3 states the purpose of eternal life, which comes from salvation, is to know God and Jesus Christ, it is to have fellowship again. Salvation is not supposed to only be a “fire escape,” but more rather it is to change the life of the one receiving life! It is to restore us to fellowship with God!

If we really saw the importance of this in the Christian life, we would see many more Christians acting like Christians should act. The meaning of the word “Christian” is to be “Christ like”. This would mean a change in all Christian’s lives from following the world and doing as the world does, to doing the works of Christ and doing as He does! Salvation is to change our lives. Has it changed yours?

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly“

~ Nate

(There is much more that could be covered about the subject of salvation. Hopefully we will get the chance to cover more in the future, but I think this is a vital part that must be understood in order to start a journey toward practical Christian living!)