Do, Do, Do….Done!

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

Look at every religion except Christianity and you will see that entrance to heaven is established by works. The religions that don’t offer heaven offer no hope at all. The point is that every religious belief system on the face of the earth is based upon works with the exception of Christianity. For all of these others it is, do, do, do….but with Christianity, it is done! God “saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5).

God will not love you any less or love you any more based upon your performance or what you do or don’t do. Of course God will correct any child of His who is living in disobedience but our disobedience does not diminish His love for us one bit. Imagine a mother who prayed for her son’s salvation for over 32 years. This son finally ended up in prison. Did this lessen this mother’s love for her son? No, not one bit! God’s love is infinitely more than human love and so we are not loved based upon our works. For indeed, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life–not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim 1:9).

Still, we tend to want to do instead of relying on what has already been done. Okay, I understand that, so you still want to do works? Maybe you have “said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28-29). That works for me. Done!