Board index ‹ Salvation

[Sarah Rose]

Sorry to bother you again! I've been struggling with this question for a while, and I almost feel guilty for asking. I'm having trouble understanding how Jesus dying on the cross was a personal sacrifice for me specifically. Another way of putting it is if someone gave 100,000 people a million dollars, how can one of those people think that that gift was meant for them? They appreciate the gift, but they were just part of the group that received it, so what makes them special? Everywhere I look it just says general stuff rehashing that he loves you. I guess I'm struggling having a relationship with him when I feel like just a number and a name on a list of "people he loves" as opposed to a one-on-one relationship. I feel ungrateful, and I know that it's a huge barrier I'm having and I just cannot find an answer that makes me feel like I am more than just a name in his book.

[jimwalton]

Great question. Never feel bad about asking. We could do this every day and I'd be a happy camper.

I think at least part of what I need to say is that it's the way you're thinking about it. let me give you a few alternatives. Imagine you're at a graduation ceremony—you and 300 others. Every one of you is getting the same thing: your diploma and a hand shake. As you approach the table and "your time," they call out your name and you step forward. Handing out the certificates is a teacher who was very special to you, who worked long extra hours with you, and you two became quite close. He or she won't just let you take your paper and walk away. When he hands it to you, he looks at you with so much respect and love, and stands there and tells you how much your time together has meant, and his respect for you, how he wants you to keep in touch, and expects great things from you. You know you feel the same way and assume the two of you will be friends for life, not just technically but really deep friends. Oddly, the teacher treats everyone this way. It's just the kind of person he is. Even though there are 300 getting the same thing, each person has a unique relationship to the Teacher, and each is treated as a loved and honored individual.

In the days, weeks, and years following the ceremony, you find out the teacher was not only sincere but truly acts that way. You and he do lunch about once a month. He gives you advice on your job search and future education. He invites you over for a big family dinner on holidays, and you feel like one of the family, along with everyone else there. You end up calling him with good news and bad, and you've never had a friend like this even in your best imaginations.

Think about Jesus and the way he healed people, for real. He could have just waved his hand over the town and healed them all with the passing thought in his head and, boom, they would be healed. But that's not the way he did it. He made them line up and all come to him one at a time so he could deal with each one as an individual, look in their eyes, hold their hand, and talk with them and smile while he healed them. It was more about the relationship than it was about any healing he was doing. The relationship was the important part to him. We know this from several examples. When the man was let down through the roof, he went over to him and said, "Your sins are forgiven." Start with the relationship. Forgiveness from sin is far more important and conducive to the relationship with God than working legs.

And often when Jesus was asked to heal, he actually went to the person. He walked there for personal contact. He didn't have to do that (and once didn't). But most of the time it was the walk, the conversation, the friendship, the personal touch that mattered to him.

Have you ever gone to a party, and even though the room is just crushing with people, the hosts see you, yells out your name with a huge smile on her face, plunges through the crowd to give you a hug and spends time with you? That's a good mental picture. Sure there are hundreds of people there, but the host is simply thrilled you are there. As I said before, oddly enough, the host has a knack for making everyone feel this way. It's her gift. She makes everybody feel like they're the most special person in the room.

[Sarah Rose]

That definitely is not the way I was looking at it before. For the longest time I couldn't feel like, while I believed everything and would say the right things, I was having trouble being humble to the fact he died for me because it didn't feel like a personal thing. (Logically I knew that was extremely wrong, but it didn't change how I felt.)

[jimwalton]

Well, I hope I helped in some way. Being God, he can do great big things (universe) and tiny things (microparticles) just as well. He can know every star by name, know the numbers of hairs on your particular head, and still handle the big picture of sustaining the universe. We're not to think of the limitations of humans who can't seem to have more than about 10 good friends, tops. Beyond that, they're just casual acquaintances. For God, each one of us is treated like his favorite. We just look at the compassion Jesus had on people in the Gospels. He was amazing. He can do what I described. He loves you, Sarah Rose, so deeply.