"Are these two saved?' the usher asked, referring to the two seats.

"They sure are!" the young woman responded, thinking the usher was asking about her parents. When they all realized the question had been misunderstood, they joined in a good laugh. It would be less than effective to have an usher, or anybody else for that matter, going up and down the aisles checking peoples' spiritual pulses with the diagnostic inquiry "Are you saved?"

I can remember, as a lad of thirteen, being conscripted against my will to attend a children's evangelistic service. At the end of a long sermon that went straight over the heads and hearts of all the children (most of all, mine!) the preacher started to "draw the net" -- a term used by some evangelists to describe gathering in the converts. (What fish was ever brought willingly into a boat in a net?) For hours, the preacher went on explaining salvation in terms most adults would find irrelevant, if not boring. To the children, it was frightening.

As this 1940s Jonathan Edwards fervently waxed on with his own rendition of "sinners in the hands of an angry God," I said to a pal next to me, "I want to get out of here!"

When the preacher said, "Those who want to be saved and washed in the blood of the Lamb, stand up," I remained resolutely seated, just long enough to establish that I was not responding to the speaker's invitation, and then I stood up and marched out, determined never to enter a church again. I remained faithful to my teenage promise until some years later when I really understood what it means to "be saved."

Perhaps this is why I'm sensitive to all three groups. You may be put off by the word "saved" because you have heard it used carelessly without an explanation of what it means. Or you may have used the word yourself without the music of its joy. And you may be saying, "Sure, I'm saved, but from what and for what? What difference has it made in the rough-and-tumble of life?"

An enthusiastic young woman who is a new Christian has had what sounds like an authentic experience. "The thing I like about Christ's salvation is that it's so down to earth. It's for me, it's for now, it's forever." She didn't leave anything out -- her salvation was practical, it was working in her life now, and she had a peep at the last page and knew it included heaven.

What is said of some Christians could not be said of this young disciple. Ever hear it? "Some Christians are so heavenly-minded they are no earthly good!" Not so among genuine Christians. The assurance of heaven intensifies their living on earth.

Now back to you. I'm fully aware that the word "save" in "He is able to save to the uttermost" may be tarnished for you from overuse or dulled by familiarity. And yet, maybe our task is not to find new words but to put the red-blooded flesh of life on the old ones through an explanation in contemporary phrases.

"Save" is a power word. In fact, it's the most powerful verb in the Bible. The entire sweep of its use in both the Old and New Testaments means deliverance, healing, wholeness, new life now, and eternal life forever. The cornucopian word of the Scriptures overflows with matchless treasure. "Save" encapsulates all that Christ came to do, has done, is doing, and will do for us.