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- Apr 25, 2006
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Ephesians 2:8-10
I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.
How do we get saved? Simply by believing in Jesus!
We make things so complicated, us Christians. We say that we know the truth of the gospel, and then we live like we've never really understood what Jesus' death means for us. The Bible makes it clear that, "If you use your mouth to say, 'Jesus is Lord,' and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved." (Romans 10:9).
So what do we do? We get hung up on the way we're meant to behave. We end up getting all self-righteous and pious. We put labels on ourselves and judge others - the very stuff that Jesus talked about as being the wrong way to live.
Paul explains here in this text that our new life in Jesus is a gift. Our salvation is not through something that's we've done or said. It's through God's amazing love that we are who we are. Our response should be to live a life of humility, taking on the example of Jesus the servant.
We should live our life in such a way that we demonstrate the love which saved us in the first place.
Lord, help me to always remember that it was because of your love that I am who I am today. Help me to show your love to others by the way that I live - so that they will see Jesus in me. Amen
Written by Richard Prescott
I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.
How do we get saved? Simply by believing in Jesus!
We make things so complicated, us Christians. We say that we know the truth of the gospel, and then we live like we've never really understood what Jesus' death means for us. The Bible makes it clear that, "If you use your mouth to say, 'Jesus is Lord,' and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved." (Romans 10:9).
So what do we do? We get hung up on the way we're meant to behave. We end up getting all self-righteous and pious. We put labels on ourselves and judge others - the very stuff that Jesus talked about as being the wrong way to live.
Paul explains here in this text that our new life in Jesus is a gift. Our salvation is not through something that's we've done or said. It's through God's amazing love that we are who we are. Our response should be to live a life of humility, taking on the example of Jesus the servant.
We should live our life in such a way that we demonstrate the love which saved us in the first place.
Lord, help me to always remember that it was because of your love that I am who I am today. Help me to show your love to others by the way that I live - so that they will see Jesus in me. Amen
Written by Richard Prescott