For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  John 3:16-17

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:1-4

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household.”–Acts 16:31

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.-Proverbs 3:5-6

 

Better Than No Faith at All

When God sent his son to atone for our sins,
Sins He was never guilty of,
He promised to us eternal life
And declared His unconditional love.
Love He will always give freely;
Acceptance we can never earn.
His love is a gift, given through grace,
But He longs for some gifts in return.
He longs to always be first in our lives,
He wants to provide for all of our needs.
He would like us to show our love for Him
Through faith and faithful deeds.
When we fall short of God’s glory,
When we have the occasion of sin.
God would like us to show our remorse
In prayers that we take to Him.
He asks that we honor the Father
By following the path of the Son.
Allowing love free rein in our lives,
Allowing hate and anger none.
He wants us to know that rock-solid faith
Can grow from a seed quite small.
And whatever faith exists in this moment
Is better than no faith at all.
© Linda Troxell 2016

 

Do you comprehend the depth and scope of God’s love for you? Do you fully understand that His love is unconditional, thus comes with no expectations? I think that for most of us, fully understanding and accepting God’s love for us is a very big stretch. John 3:16-17 tells us that God loves us so much that He allowed His son to die to save us so we could live with Him forever. According to Romans 8:1-4, God knew that humans, who were weakened by the flesh, would never be free of death under the law of sin and death. However, the wages of sin are death, and the requirement of the law, that sin be condemned in the flesh, had to be met. So God sent His Son, in the “likeness of sinful flesh,” as our surrogate to become a sin sacrifice, fully meeting the requirements of the law in us. What does God expect from us in return for this enormous gift of eternal life? His only requirement, according to the Bible, is that we believe in and have faith in Him. Could this possibly be true? Could faith and belief be all that God requires of us in return for allowing his Son to die for us? Acts 16:31 tells us this about faith and belief: They replied,“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household.” 

It can be very difficult to believe that God does not expect anything more than faith and belief in return for this gift. And there are still many who believe, contrary to what the Bible tells us, that in order to have salvation, in order to be saved, we must do “good works”. However, it is clearly stated, many times, in the Bible that we are saved by grace alone. For example Ephesians 2:9-10 tells us: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are clearly told that we cannot earn God’s love, nor can we earn salvation; both are given to us freely by grace. Scripture tells us these gifts are unmerited and underserved and come with only the expectation that we believe in God through faith.

The controversy between those who believe we are saved by grace alone and those who believe salvation depends on doing “good works” lies with the question of motivation. The folks who believe that we must do good works argue that if we are saved by grace alone there would be no reason for us to behave in a Christian manner. So, for them, it only makes sense that there must be a mandate, if you will, for us to behave well in order to go to heaven. The grace only camp disagrees. They hold the opposite view, if we must do good works to get to heaven than the gift of grace does not exist. The ones who believe in grace rather than good works explain that as we come to know and love God, our desire to please Him grows. Therefore, as our love of God grows, our behavior becomes more Christian in direct proportion to our love of God; loving God, they say, is our motivation for Christian behavior, and not fear for our salvation. They are not saying we should not do good works. In fact they hold that although we are not saved by good works, we are saved to do good works. This argument is thousands of years old and I certainly don’t expect to resolve it here. However, I think for many of us, the idea of grace opens up a whole new opportunity to love God.

Being saved by Grace alone is a new idea for many of us. We were raised with the notion that we had to earn our way to heaven. Many of us grew up thinking of God as a scorekeeper who weighed every good behavior against every misstep. Leaving us to fear that we could not live up to His expectations. Consequently, the pressure we created for ourselves by thinking we were being scrutinized for mistakes, made having a loving relationship with God difficult. Being introduced to the notion that in order to be saved all God expected of us was to believe that He loves us and that He sent His Son to save us, opened up the chance to forge a new relationship with God. Knowing how much God loves us, knowing how important we are to Him, knowing that His love comes with no expectations, has taken the pressure off of the relationship for many of us. Knowing that He has no expectations of us, certainly has made it safer for some of us to try. Because, if God has no expectations, save for that we have faith, we cannot fail. So, whatever we do for Him is no longer because we fear we will go to hell, but because we love Him too; it is our gift of love to Him.

 

Points for Prayer and Pondering

 1. Did you grow up being told of God’s unconditional love with no expectations, or were you taught that you have to work your way to heaven? Do you struggle with the concept of grace? Or, were you even taught about grace while growing up in the church? Write a paragraph about what you learned growing up and what you believe now.

 2. Do you believe we are saved by grace alone, or do you agree that we need to do good works to be saved? Write a few sentences about what you believe and why.

3. Now read the Bible verses listed below and then write again about what you believe and why. Don’t worry about whether your opinion changed or not. The only purpose here is to help you clarify your thoughts and beliefs.

Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:4-9; 1 Timothy 1:15-16; Acts 15:11; Acts 16:30-31; Acts20:24; Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 11:7-9, 11; Hebrews 11:17; Romans11:20-25, 27-31; James 1:22-25; James 2:14-26; 2 Peter1:8; Colossians 1:13-14; Titus 2:14; Titus 3:4-8; Luke 18:9-14; Romans 3:21-24; Romans 5:1-2; Romans 5:5-8;   Romans 5:20-21; Romans 6:14; Romans 8:1-4; Romans 11:5-6; Galatians 3:17-18; Galatians 5:4; 1 Corinthians 15:10; John 1:17