Not Working Toward Heaven

 Here is this week's Bible Verse.

VERSE:                   Ephesians 2:8-9

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.

REFLECTION:

This week I'm going to piggyback off of last week's verse in Romans. If you didn't read last week's blog, please do so to refresh your memory. 

There are many people and even Christian denominations that teach people that to be saved, you must do works. Basically, you must be doing things that will earn your way to Heaven. These verses today tell us this is simply not true. We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ and not by anything we can do. This is a difficult concept for many of us to understand because our world/society is built on the premise of working your way to the top. We find ourselves doing this in almost everything we do, and we usually don't just do it quietly; we boast about it, we let others know how great we are.

Take sporting events, for instance. When someone scores a touchdown, hits a home run, or scores a goal, they celebrate; they crave the applause from the fans. They want everyone to know how great they are at that sport. However that is their job, that is what they are getting paid to do.

This world doesn't work the same way as God's world. We may be in this world but we are not of this world. Things always work differently when we are talking about things of God. The only thing we can do that will get us to heaven is to have faith in Jesus Christ and believe that he died on the cross for your sins and completed it by be risen from the dead. When or if you have done this then tell others but don't boast about it but instead glorify and honor God for the work He is doing in your life. 

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven you are worthy of our praise. Thank you for your grace and the free gift of Jesus Christ. Help me Lord to be less prideful and recognize that you are the author and finisher of my life and there is nothing I can do to earn my way to heaven. Amen.

Hope you enjoyed today's verse.