Saved!

Saved!

Ephesians 2:8 AMPC

[8] For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God.

God has been reminding us of the place of grace in our walk with Him. I note it is WALK with, and not WORK for God at this time. The bit around working for God comes later. The start that really matters, and which I must sort out, is my walk with God. At a time, I was not even conscious of the fact that I needed God. I was born in sin, and continued in sin as part of my human nature. I did not know a different life; at the early stages of life, I did not know anyone who offered anything different from what I was used to. Thank God for the message of hope that I heard one day, that the life of sin was not the final position, but that there is a God who could offer full and free salvation from the power of sin, and also translate me into the kingdom of His dear Son Jesus. It was this message of free salvation that changed the course of my own history, and that of the whole world too. 

I could not and did not earn it. This is the part where you realise that the wealth of the world and all that it may offer cannot secure for you that which only Jesus can. It is called 'free grace' in the verse above, but that is from my own perspective. The One who secured it paid for it with His own life, taking on a nature that was not His, a burden that was not His, and enduring a rejection that was alien to Him, just to secure for me that which is eternal. In His Omnipotence and Omniscience, He could have found another way to save humanity but the mold had already been set. Blood was the means of atonement laid down by God under the old covenant, and He had to align with the same standard under the new covenant. His Father turned away from Him as He hung on the cross; men who He had made spat on Him, mocked Him and later struck a spear in His side. 

How can I escape if I neglect such a great salvation? What will be my excuse for not taking advantage of what has been offered? I have been given access to the riches of the grace of God that guarantees salvation. I have been delivered from judgment and made partakers of the benefits of salvation by faith alone. The good works come later, as the external evidence of my gratitude for what I have been given by Christ. The currency of grace is not what the world can duplicate; it is a free gift from the One who saves men and calls them to Himself. It is after this gift has been personalised that the matter of works can be considered. I live out the benefits of the gift on a daily basis. My outer life then becomes a reflection of the inner work of grace that God has perfected. This leaves no room for pride or self-sufficiency; it does not breed confidence in status, position, privilege or possession. It is all about the person of Jesus. Do you have Him? Do I? God's time of favour is here.