A Balance of Grace Versus Works
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” -Ephesians 2:8-9
We live in a very performance-based world. Performance can equate to more success, which equates to more money. And although we should be diligent and hard working, is our success or lack thereof all because of us?
Sometimes we think we can earn our salvation because of our efforts. But the reality is, we received grace – and that’s it! We do things Christ would want us to do out of our love for Him – out of our revelation of Him – so that others might experience the same abundant life. We receive our inheritance in heaven this way. “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10) But we’ve already received His grace.
It is so easy to come from a place of performance, instead of coming from a place of grace (what we have already received.) Did you know all you received when you chose to believe that Jesus died for your sins? We can so easily think that our success is our doing. Yes we did the “working hard” part – but without God, our efforts would have been fruitless!
Do you carry a careful balance between effort and surrender? If we don’t, we can become religious or workaholics on the one hand, or if we lean upon grace, we can become lazy, lacking excellence, or get into dangerous water with sin. Do you have a good balance in your life between works and grace?
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