For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. And you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do. Ephesians 2:8-10
These verses are very familiar to most Christians. And because of that, we tend to just gloss over them and go on to less familiar verses. We take God’s grace for granted. We have become so used to the atoning death of Jesus Christ that it no longer holds the overwhelming wonder of realizing that the God Who created the universe with a word, reached down to His disobedient children and rescued them, not only from Hell’s eternal punishment, but also from daily hopelessness here on earth. Even the faith that saves us doesn’t come from us! God even gives us the ability to trust Him and believe Him in order to save us. We foolishly take pride in small deeds of kindness, when we have the ability to be used by Almighty God. He has given us the amazing gift of actually being able to be used by Him! And we carelessly toss away that privilege to try to feel pride in the miniscule acts of kindness that might bring us personal recognition! God has prepared good works for us to do. He has an awesome plan! Are you seeking His plan today? Or are you settling for what you yourself can produce? Try His plan. You will find it amazingly more fulfilling!
