What is Your Status?

“Are you saved?” I went to high school with a young man who “preached” that we must all be saved. Sadly, he often claimed, “I am saved; therefore I can do anything I want!” And he would sometimes be quite mean.

I believe that we have indeed been saved when Jesus atoned for our sins on the cross and was raised to “sit at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” It was God’s grace that Jesus should taste death for everyone. And in so doing, God changed Jesus’ status from being mortal, a little lower than the angels, to being crowned with glory and honour. Jesus has the power to raise our status to that of being God’s children, brothers and sisters of Christ, having one and the same Father. We are assured of this in our baptism.

With that status comes responsibility. Because God crowns us mortals with glory and honour, God also subjects all things under our feet. That means we have the privilege of caring for God’s creation-building up one another, including our enemies, and helping to preserve every living thing on earth.

Lord, open my eyes, my heart, my hands, that I may live up to my status as a child of God, a sibling of Christ. Amen. — JCH