You Have A Reserved Parking Spot

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9.

Significant events tend to be hard-wired into our consciousness. We remember details about where we were, what we were doing, and who we were with at the moment it happened. Older people can tell you what they were doing when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 while younger people can tell you where they were when they first heard about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. But it is not related to negative events only. Time momentarily freezes, and we remember what was going on when we asked or were asked to marry or when we heard about the arrival of our first child or grandchild. Those tend to be indelible moments. 

Such an event or moment is when we first came to Christ. Many Christians can tell you all about their conversion. That day is unshakable from our minds. It could be at church, or at camp, or at home, but wherever it happened, we all encounter the reality of all Christ had done hitting us with unmistakable force. You don’t understand why but for the first time in your life you felt that you were here for a purpose and for some strange reason you felt a love that you had never experienced before flood your heart. You wanted to be in church every time it opened not just on Sunday. If the doors opened you were there, if they needed volunteers you were there, if there was a need that needed to be filled you were there. You just couldn’t get enough. But things have changed. Over the years that zeal for anything Jesus has not waned but moved down the priority list due to all the unforeseen events of 2020. The scars of Hurricane Michael are still seen all over the Emerald Coast. The Coronavirus has a cause and effect on every aspect of our life including our spiritual life. 

While the day we are saved was memorable it is not an end-all. Rather than thinking of salvation as an event in time, imagine it more like a parking space. When you first got saved, confessing Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you “parked ” in that space. Later on, when things when south when circumstances test your faith, you don’t need to recall the memory of parking in that spot. You need to just look down and see that you are currently still parked. And the proof that God has reserved that spot for you is better proof than a past memory.

The question is where are you resting the “weight” of your life? Faith is resting your weight on Christ’s finished work, and that is something you never stop doing. The way you know you are doing it now is not by remembering when you first started doing it, but by reflecting on the present posture of your heart. So the question is not, “can I remember the exact circumstances of my conversion” or “was my conversion experience really epic?” The important question is, “are you focused on developing the skill you already have and learning new ones, to increase in the knowledge of the things of God, and to grow spiritually?”

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you remember the date and circumstances of when you were saved?  
2. We know from 1 Corinthians 3:7 that “only God makes things grow.” What effect does that statement have on you on a weekly basis?