We see coffee mugs, t-shirts, Instagram posts with cute fonts that say it, but what does it really mean to be “saved by Grace”??
For sake of background, I grew up in a Christian home with an amazing family. I knew there was a God. I believed in Him, but I was raised in a Christian based religion that inadvertently encouraged performance over genuine faith. If I could recite the prayers, attended church and did a few outreach activities then I was a “good” person. My status was based heavily on the things I did. It always felt that I had to earn my favor with the Lord. God felt far away, out of reach, and not super interested in my little life.
It wasn’t until my early 20s that I discovered what it meant to be saved by Grace. I learned that Jesus came to Earth, lived a perfect life and died for my sins. No righteous act that I do can ever make up for the sins that I have committed, am committing and will commit in the future. I felt free. The weight of trying to win the favor of a God who created the entire world was no longer on my plate. I finally understood what it meant to be saved by Grace. I had a renewed view of God as my personal savior, father, and friend. He was no longer a distant deity who didn’t care about my life. I knew he created me for His glory and He loved and cared about me.
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
John 6:28-29
As I navigated my new found faith, I often found myself doing things legalistically, still trying to earn favor from the Lord rather than freely accept this new gift of salvation. If you were raised in a performance-based religion, you probably understand my struggle. It has taken years to shake myself from that habit… and I still do gut-checks every so often to make sure I am not trying to “earn” favor. Salvation is a free gift. The Bible makes this very clear in Romans 10:9:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Nowhere in there does it mention how many community service hours you need to go to Heaven or how many prayers you need to memorize or what church you need to attend. While regular church attendance, serving the community and memorizing scripture are all GREAT things, that is NOT what saves a person. This is NOT how you become saved by Grace.
(Note: If you struggle with understanding this or with getting out of this habit, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the children’s book You Are Special by Max Lucado. This book is not just for children. It does a tremendous job of painting the picture of the free gift of salvation.)
So often we get this backward.
When we do get this backward, it’s a big problem. It’s at that point that we start relying on ourselves and our own abilities to save us. It simply won’t work. We are fallible humans. We are not perfect. We can not save our own selves.
Think about it, how often have you put all of your hope and trust in your own efforts whether it be for a project, keeping your house clean, putting food on the table, not fighting with your spouse, or not losing your temper with your kids. And then you lose control or don’t follow through (which will happen BECAUSE we are human), how do you feel about yourself? I’ve been there. I know the answer. You feel like a failure.
I spent much of my life with this backward thinking that I described above.
God doesn’t want you to feel this way.
- He knows you need help.
- He wants to help you.
- He wants you to seek Him for wisdom and guidance in every little tiny and every huge decision in your life.
- He wants you to listen.
- He wants you to obey.
- Then when you obey, he wants to bless you like crazy!
My encouragement to you is this, check yourself. Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?
If the answer is YES, then have you truly put your trust in Him? Or are you like I was, still holding on to control and still trying to “earn” favor from the Lord by “doing things”?
If the answer is NO, ask yourself why?
Be honest with yourself. Why are you choosing to go this life without the wisdom and guidance and protection of the One who created you?
We can argue until we are blue in the face that God isn’t real, but He is.
Science proves it again and again. Scientists try to deny it, but only confirm what scripture spells out for us. (Note: If you are struggling with how God can be real, I can point you in the direction of some great resources that will help you work through those doubts and questions).
Are you willing to go this life with the eternal consequence that you are choosing? Sounds harsh. But the Truth is that we only are on this Earth for so many days. Eventually, we will pass. We can choose now whether we want to live eternally with God or die eternally. There is only one way to eternal life and the is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
My prayer for each and every one of you is that you will discover what it truly means to be saved by Grace.
As always, I love to hear from you! If you have any questions or doubts, I would love to chat. My goal is to encourage and/or point you in the direction of awesome resources that will help you work through any or all of that.
3 thoughts on “Theology 101: What it means to be Saved by Grace”