"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9
I want to share with you something of my own journey in understanding Grace. For a long time I had a picture of my life and my standing before God, as a teeter-totter, with good deeds on one end and sinful deeds on the other. And my hope was that if I could stack up more on the good side than on the evil side, it would please God. Many people think that is true today. That is not GRACE. That is Works.
In my younger days on the farm, there were four of us siblings and we would play in the barn. The structure of the building had huge beams across the width of it, square timbers that you could walk on — and we did. We also decided we could use one of the beams as a teeter-totter, by moving a plank to the middle and balancing it evenly on each side. This would be a 2x12x16ft piece of lumber, not an easy task for kids to manipulate — but we did! It was a fair distance from the barn floor. Below the beam there was a hayloft. If we would fall there would be solace in a somewhat-safe landing.
Having the plank balanced, two of us would sit at the center and inch our way toward the ends, slowly, carefully, nervously. No one died.
I’m not sure that our parents ever knew that we were doing that. We survived. But there was no security in it.
To me, this is a picture of works. There is no security in our works, good or bad. The picture of the teeter-totter is where I want to focus. This image needs to change to the cross. The fulcrum, the balance point, must become the Lord Jesus Christ, and both the good and bad of my life, on each side, must be cast down at the foot of the cross.
It’s not about my works at all. It’s about Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for me, redeeming my whole life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I come to the cross in repentance, knowing that the price for His grace and forgiveness was His suffering and sacrifice for me.
There is no stack of good deeds or pile of evil deeds at the foot of the cross. It is all washed away by His precious blood.
We are freed. We are redeemed. We are pardoned. Oh, what a Savior!
Call to Action
We must pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We must engage in efforts to share our faith and bring others into the Kingdom. It is a call to action, to outreach, to serve others and to share about the wondrous love of Jesus Christ!
All scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
