Salvation, for whatever reason, is in God's nature. It's who God is. God is salvation.
Generation after generation asks for God's presence, and then ignores God, or downright rejects God. Ever read the book of Judges?
And God keeps offering salvation.
It's in God's nature.
It's who God is.
God is salvation.
A friend quoted Teresa of Avila: "God, I don't love you. I don't want to love you. But God, I want to want to love you." Some may bristle. Some may not feel that way. But some do.
And God keeps offering salvation.
It's who God is.
God is salvation.
During this time of the year, when we keep reading things like Matthew 1:18-25 and why they named him "Jesus" and "God saves" and "Emmanuel" and "God with us" it takes us right back to salvation.
If we agree that salvation is who God is, we may have to admit that it is who we are not. We are not salvation. It does not come naturally for us survival types whose basic instinct is self-preservation to cultivate a nature of salvation.
Thank God that God is God. The incarnation of Jesus models for us the original intent of creation: That we, by nature, exchange objects of wrath for dispositions of sharing the very salvation we are receiving.
An old Asian story illustrates this well:
Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung.
The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know its nature is to sting?"
"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."
