Why, is he trying to buy a new home? Was he taught to be frugal as a child? When we say someone is saving, it usually has to do with an investment or a collection in order to possess something in the future. Delayed gratification or comfortable retirement come to mind.
When Christians say "Jesus saves," they are referring to his primary mission--to save us from our sins, or more particularly, to rescue us from the consequences of our sins.
The very name Jesus has that meaning, "He shall his people." Philippians 2.1-11 tells us that this is what Jesus was doing when he left the precincts of Heaven to take up residence on Planet Earth. Someone once said, from palace to shack. Someone else once said, from throne room to out house. Nonetheless, Christians do not believe that Jesus came simply to be a great moral teacher and a model of human love. We see Him as the One who restores us to a relationship with God, to remove the stranglehold our sin has upon our lives to make us free to live at peace (in wholeness) with God. We see Him as the Only One who can do this because he was the only one righteous enough to replace our sin with His holiness.
Paul calls this (in 2 Corinthians 5) God being reconciled to us in Christ. As Christians we believe we are agents of reconiliation. We know the consequences of living without God and the joy of living with Him. And that makes Christians dedicated to and passionate about people "being saved." More about this idea in a future post.
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