Salvation

Ephesians 2:8-10 "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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

There is a pretty simple theology of salvation in this verse that was made stunningly clear to me this week. I have always felt overburdened by the enormity of "salvation". A friend of mine who went to Bible college spent a whole semester and read numerous dissertations concerning this core aspect of Christianity. And you would think that all professing Christians would be united in their understanding of God's salvation. But I digress...back to my moment of clarity this past week.

The above verse seems to define salvation as a 3-part process: "...by grace...through faith...unto good works..." It occurred to me that Christians adhere to one part, or a combination of parts, or place emphasis on one part over another.

Salvation starts with grace. We don't deserve it; we in fact deserve quite the opposite. This show of love from our God must remain at the forefront of our thoughts. We have to believe it. Guilt, rationality, logic, and culture will rail against our faith in God's grace. The end result of our faith in His love is a life lived doing His will. This is expressed through the good works we are so blessed to have the opportunity to do.

We don't start with works and try to earn our way to God. We don't carry on with faith devoid of action. We don't ever forget God's grace.

"...by grace...through faith...unto good works..."