I've been listening to some challenging books lately--books that have made me think beyond my comfort zone and forced me to ask and answer some difficult theological questions.

As I was listening to the most difficult of these books--a book that explores the problem of suffering--I heard a definition of "saved" that I found very beautiful. Saved: made healthy and/or whole.

We often say that the "lost" become "saved." Yet it struck me today in chapel that I often describe myself as "lost," even though I am "saved." How can this be so?

If we take the definition of "saved" as "made healthy and whole," then when a person is "saved," she is not just given a pass to heaven--which often becomes the focus of salvation within the evangelical church--but she is given the possibility of a new life on this earth--a life that is healthy and whole--full of love and meaning.

During his lifetime, Jesus "saved" many people by healing their physical ailments--by showing them their dignity and worth on this earth--thus making their lives more livable and creating opportunities for them to better love and serve those around them--and this, to me, was being made whole.

But I imagine, though I don't know, that some of the people that Jesus saved still felt "lost" sometimes. Someone who was blind might not have been expected to do much around the house but with his eyesight he might have been expected to do things that overwhelmed him. Someone who had been banished to a leper colony might not have known how to go about living in regular society--bartering and trading, finding work, living into acceptable societal standards.

I don't know about you, but feeling overwhelmed and/or ignorant are two of the feelings that make me feel the most "lost"--lonely--wandering--floundering--anxious--yet I know that I have been "saved." God has healed me and made me whole through the love of Jesus Christ...and God continues to heal me and make me whole through the love of Jesus Christ.

To be whole next month will look different than being whole today. Pieces of life will come at me for as long as I'm alive, but they won't come together in beautiful harmony unless I allow God to work with me to make them so.

To live as a healthy person today is not enough to guarantee that I will be a healthy person tomorrow. Not only do I have to choose to make wise decisions in taking care of my body, but I also have to choose to make wise decisions in taking care of my mind, soul, and emotions. I have to allow God's grace and forgiveness and replace my natural tendency toward judgment and shame so that I can stand with a clear conscience that allows me love and serve the people around me without needing an ego stroke in return.

So maybe being "saved" isn't a one time event and maybe being "lost" isn't either, and maybe neither "saved" nor "lost" should be considered definitive categories of people.


Maybe we are "saved" each moment that we choose to admit that we're "lost."

And maybe "salvation" is as much about life on earth as it is in heaven.