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| MONDAY | March 29 |
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9, NKJV). Summarize in your own words the meaning of this text. Ask yourself this question too: Why must salvation be by faith and not by works? Why can works not save us? See Gal. 3:21.
An epileptic youth fell, convulsing, onto the New York City subway tracks as an oncoming train entered the station. Without hesitation, a stranger flung himself on top of the writhing youngster. Holding the boy flat, the man lay until the train screeched to a halt above him. Then he called out, “We are OK!” His risky act of self-denial was the only thing that saved the boy from certain death. What a powerful illustration of grace, of unmerited favor, of what Jesus has accomplished for us. Imagine how grateful that boy must have been to that man. How much more so should we, then, be grateful to Jesus for what He has done in our behalf?
The crucial question for all of us is—How do we manifest that gratitude in our lives? It’s one thing to talk about how grateful we are for Jesus or how much we love God because of what Jesus has done. But the real issue for us, the true test of the reality of our faith, is our works—works that arise not from trying to earn salvation (we can’t) but from a heart filled with gratitude and praise for what we have been given and promised in Jesus.
Sometimes, though, it’s not easy for us to appreciate fully what Christ has done for us. In a youth class where the plan of salvation was being explained, a boy raised his hand and said, “I have not done anything to deserve dying.” Well, the fact of the matter is we all deserve death. Or, perhaps, one could phrase this question another way. What have we done that we deserve living? What have we done that we deserve eternal life? What is it about us, that God would go through so much to save us?
Dwell on the paragraph above. What answer do you have to those questions? After all, what have any of us done to deserve eternal life? Who among us is so worthy that it’s understandable why Jesus would die for that person? How does your answer help you better understand just how grateful we should be for salvation? More important, how well do your works reveal that gratitude?
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