For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5.1)

Although the belief of self-salvation seems harder to believe than salvation through faith, human history disagrees. Men and women for millennia have sought to ‘save’ themselves, attempting personal redemption across the globe through different creeds and systems. “Surely,” they say in their actions, “there must be something crucially important that I can do to save myself.” And so they count the number of prayers they pray and where they prayed them. They add up the points of their good deeds. They seek release from the vicious cycle of life believing that humanity can rescue itself.

But placing our faith in the cross of Christ, wholly believing that Jesus alone can save us from our sin, that can be a much harder thing to believe. If it weren’t billions of men, women and children would not struggle to make a decision to follow after Jesus and the people of Jesus would not have been so slow in taking the good news to all people groups, however hostile or remote they are.

In faith, in simple stepping-as-far-from-ourselves faith, is where we meet Jesus the abolitionist. Jesus the one and only Savior of the world has set Himself firm against humanity’s slavery to itself, bound in sin and pride. He calls us to make the hard choice to trust our salvation fully in His hands and to stand firmly in the conviction that He has more for us than the heavy yoke of miserable self-service.

Jesus, thank you for saving me from my sin and from my vanity. I place my faith in You.