Grow into salvation

1 Pt 2:2-5,9-12;  Ps 100 Come with joy into the presence of the Lord; Mark 10:46-52

"that you may grow into salvation…"

Think about these words from the first letter of Peter.  Salvation is not a once saved always saved event as is often expressed by our separated brethren.  At least, Peter doesn't think so as he invites us to  "grow into salvation."

Rather it seems like it is an organic experience in which we come to receive fully more and more the grace God offers so that we might be transformed and reach our full potential.  Salvation is more than just being saved.  It is about inward transformation.  It is about growth into more, becoming who we are created to be.

Each day affords an opportunity; each moment invites us to receive more and more and be stretched.

This why Jesus speaks of pruning in the gospel of John.  Every branch must be pruned so that new growth and more fruit can be realized in our life. We grow into salvation.  God patiently awaits this growth and this process to not only take effect in our lives but to effect the lives of those around us.


We encounter the blind man on the road to Jericho in today's gospel, Bartimaeus.
Jesus ask him a question and it is the very question he ask us, "What do you want me to do for you?"

What is our response to this question.  What do we want Jesus to do for us?  The answer to this question is rooted deeply into who we are and who God is calling us to be.

Here is the blind man on the side of the road.  Here he sits in the ditch.  Perhaps trying to hitchhike his way to place of wholeness and wellness and harmony.

This is the hitch hiker's guide to spirituality. We have to be willing to step out of the ditch, to leave the side of the road, to get off the shoulder and stand in to road it self, for we know that Jesus is the road for he has told us he is the way, the truth, and the life.

As long as we are on the side of the road, in the ditch we will be blind.  But the moment we step in to the road, we step into Christ and sight shall be given and vision restored.

We are told that "immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way."

No longer sitting in the ditch or standing on the shoulder but now he walks in the road, the way, in Christ.