Last week, my wife told me about a girl that we know who had been to church camp and reported that she had gotten saved while there.

Even though the young lady is neither part of our family nor the church that we serve, this was certainly exciting news to Gale and me because we fully understood what this report meant.

On the other hand, Gale told me that the younger sister was confused about what was meant by her sister “getting saved” so she wanted to know what she got saved from. Apparently she thought her older sister had almost drowned, or something, and had been rescued!

For those of us who are accustomed to our church words, we usually refer to the experience of one coming to Christ by faith and asking Him to forgive their sins as being saved. (Perhaps we would be doing a favor to those outside of the church if we would help them understand what we mean by some of our church terms.)

The truth is, to be saved (or to become a Christian, to be born-gain or whatever term might be used) describes something spiritual that is far more important than being rescued from drowning or whatever tragedies might be encountered in this life. To come to Christ in this way is to receive everlasting life and to be spared from separation from God when physical life is over.

For those of us who know Christ and are following Him, we need to be cautious not to forget what a difference He has made in our lives.

I was doing some work at church last week, and in an effort to be conservative with our resources, I had the thermostat at a high setting. It was rather warm and a bit uncomfortable inside as I did my work, and maybe more noticeable since I had just eaten a big and delicious barbecue sandwich from Fains!

Later, after spending some time in the extreme heat and humidity outside changing the message on the church sign, I went back to the same room I had been in and realized how really nice it was than compared to outside. It reminded me of how uncomfortable we get during the busyness and trials of life that cause us to forget how different our lives would be without Christ.

We need to allow God to remind us, as Christians, what He has saved us from and what that means to us.

We might even do well to revisit the warning that Christ issued to the church in Ephesus: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (Revelation 2:4, NIV).

It was most encouraging to me the other day as I met a young man who told me of how he had given his heart to Christ (He got saved!) a few years ago and that it had made a tremendous difference in his life. He knew where he had been and he expressed joy over what Christ had done for him.

I am glad that God is in the life-transforming business.

Those of us who have received Him need to stop and remember what we have been saved from.

Those who want to receive Him can do so by trusting Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9 instructs, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”