It is not fair to say I believed I earned my salvation in the early years, but the longer I live the more I realize that I thought I "kept it" by what I did...
I guess that is why this seems to be a them that really catches my heart...
Here is a exert from one of my favorite books, "In The Eye Of The Storm" by Max Lucado that says it better than I can...
This is so freeing... Read On...
"If only, when God smiles and says we're saved, we'd salute him, thank him, and live like those who have just received a gift from the commander in chief.
We seldom do that, though. We prefer to get salvation the old fashioned way: We earn it. To accept grace is to admit failure, a step we are hesitant to take. We opt to impress God with how good we are rather than confessing how great he is. We dizzy ourselves with doctrine. Burden ourselves with rules. Think that God will smile on our efforts.
He doesn't.
God's smile is not for the healthy hiker who boasts that he made the journey alone. It is, instead, for the crippled leper who begs God for a back on which to ride."
God isn't impressed with you... Even after you are saved!
He is impressed with his Son...
Paul said it well in his letter to the church at Galatia... "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
It's hard not to want to "confirm" ourselves by the things we do. I tell people "God doesn't get up and say, 'I wonder what Bill (your name can go here) is going to do today? I can't wait to see what wonderful things he comes up with!"
No, I get up and say, "Lord, help me live in grace so that I can live out my faith in a way that makes you visible to others."
I get it more wrong than right, and if you are honest, you may also...
That is why I am so glad for grace!
Have a great weekend!
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