Seven Facets of SalvationÖrnek

Salvation is Received as a Gift from God Through Faith and Trust.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

We have mentioned before that none of us is truly righteous or good apart from God, and Romans 3:12 confirms it: “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” We like to think that we are alright because we’re not as bad as someone else – but we are not judged on the curve. We are judged against the righteousness of God, and that makes us hopeless with our own resources.

However, we have wonderful hope because God Himself intervened for us, and Titus 3:5 gives us that wonderful news! “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

Galatians 2:16 then reminds us again that there is no way we can be justified or made right by any ‘good’ works that we do, “know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law because, by the works of the law, no one will be justified.”

Then the apostle Paul makes it clear that it is not just any faith that saves us, but specifically faith in the Son of God! Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

We don’t even want to try to make it on our own, as Paul explains in Philippians 3:9, “I want to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”

God makes it so easy to be saved and made righteous; so easy that a little child can understand and receive God’s grace. It is easy, but costly. Surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ will cost us everything we are and everything we have, because God wants all of us. We cannot live a double life, partly for ourselves and partly for God.

In Matthew 16:24-26, Jesus said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"

Reflection: God is merciful, full of grace and love for us. He wants to give us a new life, one that will last forever in His presence. Every one of us needs to choose. Will it be life eternal with the Lord, or apart from the Lord? Is there something you need to lay before the Lord and repent of, leaving the world behind and running to His great mercy? We all have something that we struggle with, something of the world that calls us to turn away from Him. Jesus asks us to deny those things and fully commit to follow Him; lean on His power and strength to take those steps toward His blessing!