God's Gracious Gift

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.”- Ephesians 2:8-9

          The grace of God is a remarkable thing. Unmerited favor; an undeserved gift. Receiving something from someone that you absolutely didn’t earn, nor deserve. We have been saved from our sin; as well as saved from ourselves and our own selfish, self-absorbed tendencies. How did this remarkable event take place? It can only happen through faith. We cannot buy grace. It isn’t neatly packaged and available at your local Wal-Mart. It starts with a spark that exists within us. It lies at our core. The Holy Spirit fans that spark until it’s a flame. We could never do this on our own. We need God to provide that spark. It’s implanted in the soul of every man. We cannot save ourselves. 

Some seem to think that if they are good enough, they can achieve heaven as if it were a prize in some game show. Not so. God extends the gift of grace to each of us. It’s sad to think that millions refuse to see that it is extended to them. It takes spiritual sight to see the gift. The Holy Spirit enables us to see the gift at the right moment in our lives when we are ready receive it. We cannot work our way to heaven. There would never be enough good deeds done that could pay the price needed to purchase our redemption. If there were who would determine the nature of the deed? What standard would be used? Eternity is what’s at stake here. The Bible is clear; unless our sins have been paid for our admission into heaven shall be denied. Jesus Christ holds the key to our redemption. His blood and His blood alone can purchase our forgiveness. As stated above, nothing we could ever do would be enough to save us. God knows that if we were able to achieve heaven by ourselves, we would take full credit and brag about it morning, noon and night. God certainly knows us far better than we know ourselves.        

          Hebrews 11:6 declares that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith in the grace God has freely offered us. It isn’t automatic. We must ask God for His gracious gift of forgiveness. It takes a humble person to admit they are wrong and in need of cleansing, yet this is what is required. We must understand that there is no detergent that could ever make our souls as white as the blood of Christ. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries