Grace, Faith, and Salvation

Grace is a very wonderful thing. God has granted you grace which, through faith, has saved you (Eph 2:8). We get so hung up on all the things of this world or what someone else tells us to do in order to be saved, we look past the actual process. We must accept Jesus in our hearts, yes; however, we do not choose God. He chose us before the foundation of the world and we do not work to get saved. We accept God's grace and mercy through our faith in Christ Jesus and we are redeemed from our sins. Paul wrote to Timothy to clearly define this doctrine for believers in Christ. He (God) has called us not for our works, but according to His plan (2 TIM 1:9). As the verse continues we see that God already has chosen those before the foundations of the earth. It is a beautiful day to see such enlightening news from the Apostle Paul.

Paul spent most of his life in prison before being sentenced to death for preaching the word of Christ. No matter how we look at things within our own world, God has a plan that will be unaltered by our wants and desires. The Bible is our roadmap. We have to stay on the path and continue to connect with God and repent from our desiring heart's sinful nature. Jesus spoke many parables to the masses and astounded the Pharisees with His teachings. They had no faith in Christ and clearly believed in works based salvation by following the law. I am not saying be lawless. Absolutely follow the law, but the grace extended by God because of our faith, gives us our salvation which should produce those works of good. We are not building up credit or gaining favoritism by doing good works without faith. Nowhere in the Bible, does Jesus tell those he healed that they done great works and they are forgiven. No, he tells them because of your FAITH you have been redeemed. Other examples are because of your faith you have been healed. He never once says you must give me 10% and I will save you. We have got to start doing better about reading our Bibles and seeing the Gospel!

C.D. Lake