Salvations

Jesus is not called the Savior because He saves; rather, He saves because He is the Savior. The work of salvation does not invent Him; it flows from what He already is.

There are many kinds of salvation in the word of God, more than I can list here, and probably some that I can’t spell. There is that one most commonly preached, the salvation (which makes the holy angels shout with joy) of the sinner who has confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart that the Atoning Christ is Lord; but that is not the only work by the Author of salvation.
I thought that I would call some of the following examples “smaller salvations”, in comparison to the redemption of sinners; but, “If thou consider the worth of the Giver, no gift will seem little...for that cannot be little which is given by the Most High God” (Kempis, The Imitation of Christ).
There is a DAILY salvation. This is immortalized in the pattern the Lord gave to His disciples when they asked how they should pray. “Give us THIS DAY our DAILY bread...and deliver (save) us from evil.” He tells them also, on His last night, to “pray that you may not fall into temptation”. I take this to mean that not only should we ask the Father to guard us (“lead us not into temptation”), but that, when we are in daily communion with God, there will be no time, no occasion, for us to fall. Not only the plea itself, but the act of praying, is designed to keep us from losing our way. Daily salvation comes whenever we choose to obey God rather than the opinions, the emotions, or the wrong demands of Man, including ourselves.
There is a REGENERATING salvation, once we have been “saved”, when we are continually freed from bad habits and given good works in replacement. We have been reborn into Christ, and we are called to “leave all and follow Him”, abandoning those selfish acts and thoughts from our past so that we may take up the armor of God and the new clothing of righteousness. Through our obedience, Christ has promised to make us perfect - not in our actions themselves, which “are as dirty rags”, but in our desire, our will, to obey. And our imperfect works, when they stem from a perfected heart of obedience, are counted perfect by God. “He takes the will in the imperfect deed, and makes the deed at last perfect” (George MacDonald, Knowing the Heart of God).
There is a SEASONAL salvation. There is a time for everything; for sowing and reaping, for tears and gladness, and there are occasions when we need special preservation from (or through) specific needs, or certain people, or spiritual or physical violence, or a stage of life. The God who is with us always, Immanuel, is also with us during our seasonal trials, and He is faithful to save us in His perfect time. There is “none that can more seasonably help me in my necessities, but only Thou, my God” (Kempis, The Imitation of Christ). He was with Elijah, not only when he used that prophet to triumph over the priests of Baal, but also when Elijah, in the wilderness, humbly asked for permission to die. He was with David in heights of fame, but also in hiding and disappointment. There are times when God works a special salvation for His children, beyond daily help or the high-priestly atonement for sin.
There is a FUTURE salvation, which has not yet taken place, but which we may confidently anticipate because He has promised it. This is a salvation from mortality and all sin, when He comes to gather His godly ones, all at once, the dead and alive (but none are dead in His eyes, because He is God of the living!) and gives them new shapes to suit their new natures, and leads them, all together, into His presence, so that He may show them His Father plainly, without parables or veils. Every secret will be revealed as worthless in the light of the glorious mysteries that are in Christ’s possession.

- Joy