Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday Janurary 26th , 2022

 Ephesians 2:8-10 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. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

Paul fought throughout his entire ministry with the ones he called Judaizers, which today we refer to as Legalists. Those people say there is some work that we have to do to be saved and keep our Salvation. Ephesians 2: 8-9 clarifies that we are saved because of what Christ Jesus did, not because of anything we can or will do. Our Salvation is based on the grace and mercy of God and not any good works that we might do. Faith is not an act of work that earns God's favor or that He rewards with Salvation; that is a gift. If you give me a gift and I reach out my hand to take that gift, I am doing nothing to deserve or warrant that gift (Romans 6:23b). The one that gives the gift will receive the recognition and acknowledgment for the gift, not the recipient.

Sometimes we take the act of breathing for granted, but we breathe because God breathed life into us. In much the same way, we practice the act of faith because God has opened our spiritual eyes and spiritual ears and allowed us to hear and see the truth of His Holy Word.

God is in the process of producing those that will reflect who He is. We can't achieve or acquire anything from our Lord and Savior through our own works. God's works produce good works in us, the cause of Salvation is God's grace, and the effect of Salvation is works. The gap between cause and effect is very wide; many people, more often than not, get this confused. Moreover, even works, being the effect of Salvation, are God's works, not any works of humans.

God does not save us just to free us from the evil and wrath in this life, but He saves us to serve Him. We are not saved to sit on the sidelines and watch the game; we are saved to get into the game. We are saved so that we can spread His gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). God also saves us so that we can spend the balance of our eternal life with Him in heaven, to serve Him throughout eternity (John 14:1-3). Good works are not the tree that bears the fruit but the fruit that grows on the tree.

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