“For by Grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

One thing that we often do as humans is try to reach God. We often stretch
to the heavens and hope to reach him. We try and try to be kind and we try to be
“good people.” We hope that all of our works and good deeds will someday get us
to heaven. The problem is that many of us fall flat on our face very short of that
goal. As hard as we try, we are never good enough. How do I know this? Scripture
tells us that God and His law are the standard. If we look to other humans, we will
look great depending on the person. Or we may look horrible. If we look at God’s
law, we are all guilty of breaking the law of God. Scripture tells us that if we even
break one of God’s law, we have brought upon ourselves the guilt of the entire
law. The fact of the matter is, none of us are perfect.

However, this is not the end all statement. Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us that God
is rich in mercy and He saved us from our sin. Even while we were sinners,
Romans 5:8 tells us, Christ died for us. When we look at passages like Ephesians
2:8-9, it should bring us so much joy. We don’t have to be perfect! Instead of
striving towards a goal we can never reach, we are brought to the goal by the
perfect sacrifice that Christ provided on the cross. By God’s grace, we are made
right in God’s eyes. Through the faith that God gives us, we are saved out of a life
of sin and into freedom in Christ. This salvation doesn’t stop there! God
continually makes us more like himself. He makes us holy! Stop and think about
that for a second. Instead of us striving to be holy, we are made holy by God!
What an awesome God we serve!

Let us turn ourselves over to God. Rely on him for your salvation and he will
save you and make you holy. God does it all. We are recipients of this amazing
grace. So this week, remember the salvation that comes from God. Do good not
because you have to earn God’s salvation, but because God saved you regardless
of your works. Do good because God wants good for you.