I once met a man who’d been part of Sydney’s underworld, but then became a preacher. For the next forty years he spent his life telling people of the transforming power of Christ. He preached about it because he’d experienced it. While still a young man, he’d returned from World War One deeply traumatised and drifted into alcoholism and crime. One day he decided to have some fun with a street preacher. He waited for him to say something about how Jesus saves, and when he did, he yelled out: ‘What’s he going to save me from?’ expecting the preacher would say: ‘from Hell;’ to which he intended to reply: ‘I’ve been there – on the Western Front.’ But the preacher just looked at him and said: ‘Mister, He’ll save you from what’s got you beat.’

And that’s the salvation Jesus offers to each of us.