Sometimes to learn something new we don’t realize how much there is to unlearn. We have grown up a certain way, say with believing a certain way or doing church a certain way, and that way becomes familiar. So to change our ways to become more Biblical may seem odd at first because the old way is what we are so familiar with.
One of those examples for me is grace. I have struggled with receiving God’s free gift of grace many times in my life. We are taught so much that we have to earn things to deserve them. Well, when it comes to God’s wonderful gift of salvation who could possibly deserve it because none of us has earned the right to receive it except Jesus. How many times in pulpits have I been taught God’s free grace but then in Sunday School were given white envelopes that you put your money in with a grade sheet on the front asking whether or not you read your Bible that week, prayed that week, shared your faith that week, etc., and then at the end you got a percentage grade. If that doesn’t teach works I don’t know what would. You see people put on moral fronts because that is what a “Good Christian” does. It’s hard to believe I don’t have to do anything but put my faith in Christ when all my life I’ve gotten mixed messages from Churches. The truth is I’m not a good Christian, I wreak with sin, and I’m only a “Grace Christian” borrowing totally from Jesus’ account because I realize I am not enough on my own, but He is.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For you
are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s
gift— not from works, so that no one can boast.[1]
[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Eph 2:8–9). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
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