Salvation

Ephesians 2:4-10 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Maybe you’re reading this and you don’t know what it talks about. Maybe you’ve heard this message before but the idea of grace has never really caught your attention or resonated with your heart. It doesn’t always make sense to me. If you knew my life and all the things I’ve done, you’d understand how much of an enemy I was (and still am) to Christ. Almost everyday I show just how much I hate the light, things of God, and enjoy the darkness, things that don’t glorify God.

Maybe you’re like me and you hear this message almost everyday, but it gets old. We get so used to hearing about the grace of God and how much He loves us that I think we don’t really understand how powerful it is. But we notice the times when we forget. I find myself with loads of guilt when I am constantly trying my hardest to do what’s right, but only to build my relationship with God. The thing is, the only way I can build my relationship with God is by trusting in His love and grace, so it really doesn’t make a difference whether I start reading my Bible more or start praying more unless I surrender myself to His grace.

The Christian life is known to be backwards. We aren’t saved by doing good works or being good people. Think about the word “saved.” We didn’t attribute the word to salvation, but the Bible uses it several times. When you are saved, it’s necessary to assume that someone indeed is doing the saving. When you are drowning and someone comes to the rescue, the best thing you can do is just relax. When you’re about to sink in sinking sand the best thing you can do is to remain still. In both cases, you’re salvation is relying on the strength of the person getting you out of the situation.

When we say we are Christians, we are publically proclaiming that we are the weakest beings on the earth, only held together by the grace and will of God. We are called to be weak and live in constant dependence of the salvation that was made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Maybe you need that. How do I know that? Because we all need it.

In the first three verses of Ephesians, it says that we were brought from being sons of disobedience and we were literally dead. How is this possible? Well, if life is found in Christ Jesus, than being apart from Him is spiritual death. That’s why hell is complete and utter separation from God, which is where we’ll end up if we don’t accept salvation and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to look more into. Maybe you already have and are turned off by religious thinking. Maybe you’re already a believer but grace is still something that you don’t fully understand or even appreciate. I’d love to open myself up to talk to you. You can contact me by e-mail. robertwegner1433@gmail.com.

His message is life-changing, and I’d ask you to pray about accepting and growing in it. – Forsake All