“By grace you have been saved,” Paul declares in Ephesians 2:5. God saved us not because of any good deed or merit in us, but solely because of his abundant mercy and great love. We contributed absolutely nothing to our salvation; it was an entirely undeserved gift from start to finish. We know that before Christ we were dead in sin, incapable of stirring up saving faith or good works apart from his intervention. So why did God do it? Because he is rich in mercy and extravagant in love. This humbling truth protects us from prideful thinking that we somehow contributed to or earned our right standing before God. It reminds us that even now, we live each day only by God’s sustaining grace. Every breath we take is a gift of mercy we do nothing to deserve.
Questions:
- How does understanding salvation as God’s work inform your gratitude?
- What’s the problem with trying to earn God’s grace or prove yourself worthy of it? How can resting in the finished work of Christ help overcome this?
Comments are closed.