Becoming Salvation
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Song of Solomon 3:1-11; Mark 16:1-8
"The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation." Psalm 118:14
This little phrase, “he has become my salvation,” is pregnant with meaning. I think this morning as I recline and think at the coffee shop, the idea that the LORD has become my salvation is an idea I need to process more.
So often we think that we must earn God’s love or that we have to do certain things to make the divine happy. Yet, there is nothing that I need to do because the LORD has actually become my salvation.
Can we just stop for a second and think about the idea that God did not simply earn, win, or gain salvation. But, God became salvation. “Become” is defined as “begin to be.” I know that’s some new idea, I mean, I know what “become” means, but the ramification of God actually becoming salvation is an idea that has not fully sunk in.
This idea originated before the time of Christ. The author of Psalm 118 had this in mind. Now, this side of the resurrection it takes on even greater significance. Christ has defeated death and sin and the powers. This wasn’t an idea. It wasn’t a concept. He did so in his body, dying. I wonder if Paul might have been hitting on this idea when he wrote, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body… (Colossians 1:22a)"
In Christ, the invisible became visible.
In a very real sense, the LORD became our salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The more this runs through my mind the more I can’t stop thinking about the physicality of the becoming. Once again, the incarnation is a bigger deal than I make it out to be.
Salvation is to be lived not simply believed.