You Have To Do WHAT To Be “Saved?”

Acts 15: 1-6

“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice you cannot be saved.”

Why is it that we set up all these hoops through which one must jump in order to be “saved?” If we are able to step back a bit and look at various requirements of being in “good standing” with the Divine, some are almost laughable. But people take them seriously and at times they cause damage. Certainly here in Acts we see the beginnings of this discussion of what one must do, whether Gentile Christians have to first observe Jewish practice or not.

For me as a young man, struggling with my sexuality on the one hand and fascinated by the Divine and the big questions of life’s meaning on the other, the perceived requirement of being heterosexual to be in “good standing” with the Divine is something that I took seriously and that pained me deeply. I continue to be pained today when I hear of and see men and women who think they are unfit in the eyes of God because they’re gay. I am pained when I see others, no matter their sexual orientation, who question their “worthiness” in the eyes of the Divine.

Jesus sought out those on the fringe, those that had been pushed aside, those that were deemed unfit – like women, the sick, the lepers, the handicapped. Through no fault of their own they found themselves to be as they were . . . and Jesus welcomed them, he touched them, he loved them. And he ultimately taught that it’s all about love and not about jumping through this or that hoop or being this type of person in order to be “saved.”

Are you one who feels themselves unworthy or unfit because of who you are? I hope we are all able to feel our goodness deeply and allow that realization to be a springboard of energy that helps us reach out in self giving love to others.

It’s not about hoops. It’s about love.