I AM

What saves you?

Many people today will try to save themselves through their own work. They'll try to make up for their wrongs and somehow make life right by their own striving.

Still other people will look to others to save them, always depending on their families, friends, and loved ones to carry them through.

A few will look to their careers and financial stability to save them through the perils of a challenging life, getting their sustenance and security in a vast amount of money and credentials to somehow buy their way through life.

A small number will eventually look to some form of religion, belief, or spirituality to get themselves to reach a higher being—a 'god' if you will—or even several deities to get them through life, and most especially death (if indeed they believe in an after-life).

People on their deathbeds will no doubt look to something outside of themselves as if to say, "I've done all that I can", "I've contributed my part", "I made my wrongs into rights", "I've somehow paid for all the mistakes I made", and "I paved the way for a good spot somewhere outside of this current life".

They look on and see their life's worth in the lens of what they've done, who they've come across along the way, and if they've given it their best shot.

The people who go through this near-end phase will have a terrible thought inevitably come their way:

"what if all of it, wasn't good enough?"

What then?

There is quite an astonishing belief in us humans that we can save ourselves if we just get enough things right or if we fulfill some sort of measuring stick. We gut it out through life, trying to be the best versions of ourselves but we know deep inside that we can never be perfect. There's no such creature that can boast perfection apart from a perfect Creator—the source of everything and anything.

At this point, plenty of folks will tune out and save themselves the trouble of thinking about a "creator" because it sounds so cliché and religious.

Though a handful will read on in the hopes of discovering something worthwhile; let me tell you, you've made the right choice.

What follows are truths that can be discovered in the Book of Life:

• You cannot save yourself.
• Other people definitely cannot save you.
• Your job, work, nor money won't be able to save you.
• You're not good enough, and never will be.
• Your efforts for goodwill are contrived and will never amount to anything.
• Your salvation is impossible because you are quite the contrary of perfection: you're flawed.

Flaws can never be accepted and therefore are never received. Take the case of factory re-runs, they are never sold in the official store, they're simply not good enough.

The Book of life tells us that no one, not anyone ever in the history of the entire universe's galactic multi-billion life has ever been good enough...

except for One.

This One was the one who is meant to show us our flaws, imperfections, weaknesses, and failures. He is the ultimate consummation of everything perfect, glorious, and beautiful. Beyond any word we can surmise, that is He.

In ancient records, He is known as the eternally pre-existent One. In antiquity, He is recognized as the all encompassing One. In human history, He is known as the Great "I AM".

When this One was asked who He was or what His Name was, the only apt response was: "I Am who Am".

The existence and immense power of the Great I Am was seen in ages since. When, at the dawn of time, The I AM chose to create.

He created that He might show His all-perfect glory and His all-sufficient power; He created so that He might share all that He is with all that He loved.

For epochs since then, humankind has been given a glimpse into such a being but being human, fear gets the better of us and we are terrified of what we do not know or cannot comprehend.

Wanting to be the all-savior of our very own selves, we chose to take upon ourselves the task as lord and master of our destinies—a task that is far too great for us to keep; a task that only the great I AM can hold.

We took our wills and created our own destinies, going against the great I AM. We were separated thus and never had the chance to behold Him again. We were banished into nothingness because the essence of everything was with the great I AM.

We were left with nothing because we wanted everything for ourselves:

“I am great”

“I am good”

“I am beautiful”

“I am glorious”

All these I am's, we have striven for but to no avail. We do not realize that we were never meant to hold all these because they belong only to the one who was and is, and is to come.

Not until at a definite crack of time, as fate intertwined with reality, as divinity came into humanity, as the invisible came to be seen, and as the ethereal came to flesh, not until the turning of the tides of destiny did One come.

This One came in the very Name of the great I AM and He came as God who is God, the very nature of the divine placed in a human body.

He came with all the I AM and showed to us his personal and identifiable Name:

Jesus Christ.

• It wasn't until the Great I AM showed himself to us that we had hope and a future again.
• It wasn't until Jesus Christ walked among us that we could be free and whole again.
• It wasn't until the Son of God who is God became our standard of perfection and the very procurement of that perfection on our behalf through a most gruesome and murderous event: the Cross.

Jesus Christ came to show us that we can never be saved by our own merits but that only He can do such an impossible work. Based on His own sacrifice, He paid the price for our rebellion and changed the face of our destiny forever.

When we discover the great power, beauty, splendor, glory, and love found in the Great I AM, we discover an eternal truth that will ever be the foundation and basis upon which we can live our lives:

It was because of the great I AM that I am saved.