"So what -- I'm saved."

Here's an excerpt from the post What To Do When Your Fig Tree Fails...

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

In Habakkuk's day, if you were a farmer, your whole life depended on your crops and herds. He describes a worst-case scenario: all his crops fail, all his flocks and herds die. Yet he says, even if all this befalls him, "I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." In other words, so what -- I'm saved!

How this honors God! How it blesses him when we say "Lord, even if you don't bless me in any other way, you alone are enough for me. You have saved me to bring me to yourself. Your glory is all I need. I rejoice in you."

So when the mechanic tells you that you need a new transmission, say, “So what -- I'm saved.” Depending on how well you know him, you might want to consider saying it to yourself quietly. When the children break your favorite Ming Dynasty vase say, "I will rejoice in the Lord." When you come downstairs in the morning to discover that Sparky the Wonder Dog left a little surprise in the middle of the living room carpet, you know what to say. And should you be facing something really serious, I would still encourage you to say along with Habakkuk, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation."

May God teach me to continuously look to Him for the joy in Him and His salvation...May He cause me to genuinely, consciously, and consistently feel, when appropriate: "So what -- I'm saved." May He teach me that that is enough. Enough. Yes sanctification and fruits of the faith are important. But the starting point is not with my efforts but His grace. As Paul was told that God's grace was sufficient for him (2 Cor. 12:9), may His grace be sufficient for me also...