The God Who Salvages

Many of us have heard that “God saves.” The message of salvation through Christ is central to the Bible and the Christian faith. God didn’t allow sin or corruption to have the last word; in his divine and loving plan he died for sinners (see Romans 5:8). Salvation is not something we earn by our outstanding obedience. Salvation is a gift, which begins and ends with God’s grace to us through Christ (see Ephesians 2:8). Yes, it’s good news that “God saves.”

God doesn’t only save, however. God also salvages. What does it mean to salvage something? Salvaging involves retrieving that which is valuable from what would otherwise be complete wreckage.

Let me offer an example. I’m a hobbyist photographer, and my main photography passion is capturing pictures of birds in the wild. One way bird photographers capture birds at ground level or water level is to mount their cameras on a low tripod or “ground pod,” which is basically a plastic pan with a mounting bolt in the middle for attaching the camera lens. Having your camera so close to the ground allows for dramatic bird shots in which the backgrounds are cinematically out of focus while the bird itself is crisp and sharp.

Picture of a sage thrasher taken from a low angle. Taking pictures like this helped me realize how helpful a “ground pod” would be.

Noticing a large number of ring-necked ducks and other water birds in a nearby lake, I thought a ground pod would be a good tool to purchase. A few days later, however, I was walking through the hallway of the high school where I teach a Bible class, and a strange piece of art hanging from the wall gave me another idea.

The art piece was assembled out of discarded housewares, including an old frying pan. It was beaten up, painted yellow, and looked like garbage. When I laid eyes on the old frying pan, though, my mind’s eye saw something else: the base of a homemade ground pod. “If I could mount a bolt to that pan and saw off the handle,” I thought, “I could build myself a very inexpensive version of a ground pod for my photography.”

I shared my idea with the art teacher, who said he’d been planning to take the display down anyway. He took the pan off the wall and handed it to me. I took it home and fashioned a homemade ground pod in my garage, all for the cost of a ⅜ inch bolt, a couple of washers, and a hex nut—about $1.50 total.

Camera mounted to my new homemade “ground pod,” which I fashioned from a salvaged frying pan.

The point of this story is not that I’m so crafty and clever. The point is that pan would have been thrown into the trash had I not seen another purpose for it. That’s an illustration of what it means to salvage something: retrieving what is valuable from a wreckage.

When the people on the earth became so corrupt that God had to do something about it (see Genesis 6:5), he didn’t do what you or I would have done—he didn’t destroy the earth. He cleansed it. He brought his judgment upon evil, but he saved Noah, his family, and some animals in an ark. After the flood, God established a covenant with Noah and “every living creature” (see Genesis 9:10) promising never to destroy creation in that way again.

In a dramatic action, God presented the rainbow as a sign of this covenant. The Hebrew word for “rainbow” is the same as the word used for the bow that is a weapon, as in a bow and arrow. The picture in this passage, then, is that God hangs up his weapon. What a meaningful reminder that God’s posture towards his creation is not hateful; it’s loving!

The covenant God made with creation after the flood is noteworthy. It is not a conditional covenant, as in: “If you do this, I’ll do that.” No, it’s an unconditional divine gift and promise. This is called a “Royal Grant” covenant. God not only saves and salvages creation; he also unconditionally promises not to destroy it with a flood in the future (see Genesis 9:11).

This Royal Grant covenant is the same kind of covenant God established through Christ, which the prophet Jeremiah called the “new covenant” (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). In this covenant, God promised unconditionally to forgive his people’s sins through grace alone. When Christ took the cup at his last supper with his disciples before his death on the cross, he said to them, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20).

When God cleansed creation instead of destroying it, established his covenant with all life, and allowed the earth to flourish again, he salvaged what is good in it. God does the same thing in our lives when he brings us to new life in Christ. The Bible teaches us that in Christ we become a new creation, and the old self dies away (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). It also teaches us that, along with saving us, God sanctifies or salvages our lives, using us for his purposes (see 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Timothy 1:9).

Think of Moses. For forty years he lived in Midian, watching his father-in-law’s flocks and herds. Moses probably thought he would live out his days in Midian peacefully. Yet when Moses was 80 years old, God called him to be the shepherd-leader of the Israelites, leading them out of slavery, through the wilderness, and to the Promised Land. David, too, went from being a lowly shepherd to the great shepherd-king of Israel.

Or think of Saul, a persecutor of the church. Saul was a zealous Pharisee who approved of the killing of Stephen, the first Christian martyr (see Acts 8:1). What an unlikely candidate Saul was for God to choose as the greatest Christian missionary of the first century! Yet God saw in Saul—who became a Christ-follower known by the name Paul—a zealous worker for Christ. God “salvaged” what was valuable in Saul’s life and gave it new purpose and direction when he became known as Paul.

In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul writes, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” This statement comes after Paul’s long reflection on the future resurrection of believers. He states that the work we do for God’s kingdom will not pass away, even after this life is over. Our good works in obedience to God carry over into God’s kingdom in the life to come; they are not in vain. What is valuable remains.

Reflection

What has God salvaged in your life? What are the gifts, strengths, passions, or resources that God has given you, which you can now use for his glory? Remember, God is not only the God who saves, he is also the God who salvages. God created you with gifts and a calling for you to put to use for the cause of Christ right where you live. Yield your life to Christ, the one who both saves and salvages our lives, and use the gifts he has given you for his kingdom.

Adapted from the study material from the NIV Application Bible based on the NIV Application Commentary series.