Excerpt from Psalm 9:9-20

"I will rejoice because you saved me." (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

What does it mean to be saved? There are many answers to that old question. But at the heart of them all—including many we might not accept—is knowing and accepting the love of God.

This can seem spiritual and immaterial. It's hard anyway to think of God as a lover, and still harder when love includes everybody—which makes me just part of a crowd.

James said "Faith without works is dead." So is salvation. So is love. We must act on that love before it becomes real personally, not for just anybody else. Just as acting on the premise that we're unlovable insures that this is what we become—or at least how we feel.

We must work out what God works in. We are so much better than we think and feel. But that can't mean much sitting on the sofa and mulling it over and listening to our moods. Often we have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves and get moving.

God's love is a verb, not a noun. And so is being loved—and saved. Working this out is not easy. But much harder is the alternative which, for sure, ends up nowhere. It makes a big difference to know that we're backed up by a power greater than "anything else in all creation," as Paul says, a love so great that it can include everybody. We can rejoice!

Prayer

Help me to act out your love, God, so I can really know it. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green is Vice-President for Strategy and Development, Moral Courage Project, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.