Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, [9] not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Grace is not getting what you deserve and getting what you do not deserve. We deserved death because the wages of sin is death, but because of God’s grave he has offered is the gift of life, and not just life as we know it but his kind of life, eternal life.
It is the grace of God that took Jesus took the cross. The bible says that God so loved the world, this sinful world that deserved death, that he gave his only-begotten son so that whosoever believes in him should have eternal life.
Someone said that grace is simply God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
So how do we receive this grace to experience the gift of eternal life? It is by faith. Faith in Jesus and what he accomplished for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. There is no other way to access the gift of eternal life that God has given humanity apart from faith in Jesus. When we believe in him then we are made new. The old sinful man/ nature dies, and a new man is born again in Christ with Christ’s nature, a nature of righteousness for the bible says that we are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus.
May try or believe that they have eternal life because of their good works. Good works cannot change man’s sinful nature, and they cannot deal with the problem of sin that separated man from God. Even with good works, we still owe God a debt because of sin; hence good works are not sufficient to save us.
The blood of Jesus is the only one that is sufficient not only to pay the debt owed to God but also to make us new. The bible says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Remember, the wages of sin is death and those wages must be paid because God is a just God.
Jesus paid the wages for all, but it is only those who put their faith in him completely and nothing else that get to be beneficiaries of God’s grace for salvation.
Reflections.
What is something you felt you did not deserve that someone has ever given to you because they love you? How did this make you feel?
Is your faith completely in Jesus, or do you feel you must do some things for God to accept and forgive you?
How has the new nature in Christ changed your life?
