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"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
(Ephesians 2:8-10, NLT)
A few weeks ago, I came home from work, and Kyndall, my wife, greeted me with, "I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!" Now, upon first realization of this statement, my immediate thought was:
Did I forget something?
Did I forget a special date?
Should I have gotten her something too?
She quickly reassured me that this was a gift that she got for me "just because". In that moment, I was immediately overwhelmed with gratitude and joy because this was a sweet gesture by my favorite human on the planet! I didn't deserve this gift, and it was done out of her generosity. There was one thing I could have done to cheapen the gift: I could have tried to earn it from her. Now, it would be foolish for me to do that, because that defeats the whole purpose of a gift! It's a gift, you cannot go back and earn the gift; that negates the whole concept of a gift.
I know in my own life, I can have this foolish mindset when I think about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. I believe that at the very moment of salvation, Ephesians 2:8-9 is so true. Salvation is a gift from God; however, when life gets hard, when life gets strenuous, when sometimes the gift seems too good to be true, I can find myself trying to earn a right standing with God and trying to feel like my salvation is based on my actions. I need to be reminded of the simple but deeply humbling and beautiful truth of the Gospel:
Salvation is a gift from God.
There is nothing we could have done or ever could do to earn salvation for ourselves. It is a gift God has given us. We have been saved by God's grace extended to us, "and we can't take credit for this." What we can do is accept the gift, cherish the gift, remember the gift every day, and be thankful for the Giver of the gift.
When was the last time you were thankful for the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9? When was the last time you stopped to pray, and the only prayers you offered were prayers of thanksgiving to the perfect Gift-Giver?
Take these next few moments and thank God for the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9.
Thank Him for His grace.
Thank Him for the gift of salvation.
Thank Him that you cannot take credit for salvation.
Thank Him for calling you a masterpiece.
Thank Him for saving you.
God Saves.
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