I encourage you to read the entire portion, verses 3-8. It is quite an eye opener for those who may not realize exactly what salvation truly is. It is nothing we have done or even have the ability to do. It is unmerited favor. It is like receiving something free just because you were standing in line. It is like winning the million dollar jackpot without even buying a ticket. The only reason I even mention it in that manner is to bring it down to earthly terms. However, it is so much more than that. It is an eternal, spiritual, powerful, matchless event that nothing on this earth can even come close to comparing to.
We humans are a proud lot. We have difficulty admitting that we are fools or slaves. I mean, would you readily admit to that? I doubt that I would. But in reality we were or still are if we are not true believers in Christ. Just like an alcoholic must admit to his drinking problem, so we must admit that we are sinners separated from God by that sin. We must admit that we are in need of someone to wash those sins away. It is not an easy thing to do, especially if we are riding the crest of a wave, so to speak. If everything is going our way and life is good we tend to blow off that which we most need. We are feeling cocky, self-assured, and ready to take on the world. We are not equipped to take on the world. The world will “eat our lunch”. We need help.
We wait until our darkest hour to even begin to seek help. We are in a deep pit looking for a “hand up”. God’s hand is extended, but we tend to blow that off saying “no, I don’t need religion, I just need a boost up”. My friend, it is not religion you need, I agree. It is a relationship.
We have done nothing to earn or deserve the mercy of God. That is what the phrase “unmerited favor” means. We receive something from God that we didn’t even know we needed in most cases, yet had at our disposal all along. God in all His wisdom and mercy designed a plan to save us from ourselves before we were ever born. That and the confounding truth that He loved us before we ever knew Him are humbling to say the least.
So what if we don’t choose to accept this “mercy”; what if we continue down the path that will unbeknownst to us lead to our own destruction? Our free will allows us to do that. Look at it like this: when a bridge is out, as in impassable, there are warning signs prior to the bridge entrance. Perhaps flashing signs, large striped road blockades, perhaps a flag man … God provides all that and more during our life to get our attention. Much of the time we are not paying any attention. We are having too much fun to notice. The sad part is that when it all comes crashing down, we blame God. “How could God DO this to me?” or “Why would God let this happen?” He had ways of escape littered all along your path, but you failed to take notice of them. It is never God’s fault when something bad happens to us. Life happens. It is a result of the fall of man. God is there. God is everywhere. It is only after we embrace the grace that He so freely offers us that we see things through different eyes … we see them through the eyes of the Holy Spirit.
Have you received the mercy and grace of God for yourself yet? Have you realized your hopeless state without Him? It is not too late to shed your old skin and surrender to God. Do it today, won’t you?
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!
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