He saved us — not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3: 5 (HCSB)
Scripture: Ephesians 2: 1-10
The Bible clearly tells us that salvation cannot be earned through works. But what is it talking about when it says “works”? This devotion looks at what we can — and cannot do — for salvation.
God has told us plainly that we are saved through faith, not by works. There are a lot of fantastic organizations that save the children, save the animals, and save the world. They do good, needed work. But working through those organizations isn’t enough to earn salvation.
Salvation comes from God as a gift. There is nothing we can do to earn it. But when we hear that, we generally think this just means that works are the good things we do for others.
What if this also means that we aren’t saved by doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts of the Bible? Christians get called hypocrites by non-believers when they do some of the don’ts or don’t do the do’s. What if that really didn’t matter either for salvation?
If works are something we do to get a specified outcome, what would we be gaining if we didn’t murder, steal, and commit adultery? We would be happier. We would please God. We would be obedient to God.
But that doesn’t gain us salvation. Just keeping a list is not going to save us. We can’t do enough to get our names written in the Book of Life. Luckily, we don’t have to because He loves us as we are.
God gives us love, grace, and mercy free of charge. He doesn’t make us clean up our acts before He awards us salvation.
God asks us to obey Him after He has bestowed salvation upon us, knowing full well that we’ll still mess up. That’s okay, because He will still forgive us when we ask.
Jesus did all the work for us. “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish – the very works that I do – testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me” (Jn. 5: 36, NASB).
One evidence of saving faith, however, is the existence of good works in the lives of believers: “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1: 10, NASB). Those good works will put jewels in the crown that we, like the Elders, will lay at Jesus’ feet (Rev. 4: 10-11).
We have to take the focus off of us. There is nothing — even the do’s and don’ts — that will earn us salvation. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2: 10, NASB).
The only way we get salvation is admitting we are sinners, believing Jesus’ death was God’s gift to make salvation available to us, and confessing that God is now our Lord of lords and King of kings.
The Heavenly Father giving us the free gift of salvation after we admit we are in need of salvation, believe in Jesus as our Savior, and ask for His forgiveness is the only way to get salvation.
Taking that a step further, we can’t use works to “keep” our salvation. God gives us places of service to further His kingdom. He uses us — but our salvation is not dependent on it.
Salvation is only given to us through the grace of God. We can’t earn it or keep it through our works. It is ours.
Heavenly Father. We don’t understand. We believe that you don’t get something for nothing. So, we believe that we have to perform some act that is worthy enough to earn Your salvation. But You have said that it doesn’t work that way. You give us salvation freely as a gift. Because of Your love, grace, and mercy, we can accept this gift. After we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we want to do the do’s and not do the don’ts listed in Your Word. This is because we want to be obedient to You. But we are not perfect, as You are. We will mess up. Thank You for continuing to forgive us when we ask. Thank You for preparing us for our home with You in heaven. Amen.
What do you think? What works do we use to either earn salvation? Or do we just use works to “keep” the salvation? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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