Does your walk with God sometimes feel like a long, uphill bicycle ride? Many years ago, my husband described our life that way. It seemed that no matter how hard we tried to do all the right things, we were always struggling with some problem or other, never walking in true victory.
Whenever a big problem would hit us, our conversations would focus on what we might have done wrong. We were sure we should have done more, given more, or changed some behavior. We figured every problem was due to our failure to live up to God’s expectations.
After years of this, we finally heard some good teaching on God’s grace. First, we learned that we can’t ever do enough to earn God’s approval, or salvation, or any of His gifts. But the beautiful thing is that we don’t have to. A gift doesn’t have to be earned. God’s blessings in our life are free gifts, based not on our performance, but on His goodness.
We’d been thinking God was like a heavenly vending machine. If we put in enough right behavior, then blessings and answers to prayer would pop out. But that’s not how it works. Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace are we saved through faith.” We receive salvation by grace, not through our own actions, but through faith. Faith means believing what God says, no matter how things look.
But salvation is not the only gift God has for us. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). We access all His blessings just like we receive salvation, by grace through faith. We are also able to walk through our lives the same way. “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, {by grace through faith}so walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
As we focus on what Jesus has already done for us, we’ll stop trying to win God’s favor by doing things to earn it. We won’t stop doing good things, but we’ll be doing them from a different mindset, a mindset of gratitude. We’ll get off that long, uphill bicycle ride and walk instead into the abundant life Jesus has promised us.
If you would like to learn more about receiving what God has provided for you by grace and accessing it by faith, visit us at Charis Christian Church, 4811 E. Julep St., Suite 101, in Mesa.