Salvation

Luke 9:56
For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them from the penalty of eternal death........

(The following is personal opinion)

I never have cared for the term "plan of salvation".
I understand why it is used that way, but to me it seems impersonal.
A "One size fits all" kind of deal.
What I see in Scripture is that Jesus comes from all directions to secure salvation for someone.
He will use any means possible....
The work of the Holy Spirit is as varied as one can imagine when it comes to bringing someone to the point of salvation.
For one, it may take time in jail.
For another, it may take losing everything.
For another, they may receive this salvation before reaching a critical point in their life.
No matter which it may be, salvation is the end result.

Salvation is still about conviction, confession, repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior.
But the way it is arrived at is different for everyone.
I'm not saying that there are many path's to God, in reference to the world's religion. Jesus is the only way to the Father.
But how we get there......now that is different for each of us.

Me?
I was saved in the fourth grade at Gallant Elementary School. This was back when you could talk about Jesus and (heaven's forbid) even have a daily Bible reading to start the day off. We had a visiting pastor come and do a special program at school, and at the end he began talking to us about who Jesus really was, and how we all needed to give our lives to Him and His kingdom.
There in that little country school house, one Michael Bynum became acutely aware that he was a sinner. Aware that he was a sinner with the potential to do even greater harm and damage if left in this state. So I got up from my desk and went up and told Bro. Lewis Wood that I wanted to be saved.

To me, salvation is the greatest miracle and healing of all of God's work.
Over the past twenty years, I have witnessed thousands of salvation experiences, and without a doubt, it is the ultimate healing.
I've seen lives completely destroyed, left in heaps of rubble and given up for dead, restored under the hand of Christ. I have seen those who thought that addiction would take them to the grave be set free and thrive in the new life that has been given to them by Christ.

Also, salvation is an ongoing experience in this new life given to us by God.
Yesterday, I was saved.
Today, I am being saved.
And tomorrow, I will be saved.
Paul writes in Philippians 2:12, in the amplified Bible:
Work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

In other words, salvation is a gift that is to be guarded.
It is to be tended to and nurtured as we daily allow the Holy Spirit of God to work in us. This inside work of the Holy Spirit produces a changed outward behavior that should be evident to everyone around us.
Such is the mystery of this incredible gift given by God to fallen humanity.
The gift we refer to as salvation.

God on you....
mb