«For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God» (Ephesians 2:8).
EVERY TIME I read these words by Charles R. Swindoll, I’m left with a pleasant feeling of peace within, knowing that my deliverance from sin is a work of grace from beginning to end: In heaven «there will be no spiritual-sounding testimonies that call attention to somebody’s supercolossal achievements. None of that! Everybody will have written across his or her life the word grace.
‘How did you get up here?’
‘Grace!’
What made it possible?’ ‘Grace.”
We have no merits. We are free from sin only and exclusively by God’s grace. We live to teach others about the miracle of grace Christ has performed in our lives. As Ellen G. White rightfully said, «We owe everything to grace, free grace, sovereign grace … Grace in the Saviour effected our redemption, our regeneration, and our adoption.”
Regardless of how hard we try to free ourselves from sin, of everything we do on our own, we will only manage to make our bondage even deeper. Redemption from sin is a process that starts outside ourselves. Someone else has to redeem us. Based on His sacrifice on our behalf, when Christ shed His blood on the cross, He obtained the right to claim our deliverance. Now we can say that we «have redemption through His blood» (Ephesians 1:7), that we received justification «freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus» (Romans 3:24). «For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God» (Ephesians 2:8). God gave us deliverance!
In Christ «we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins» (Colossians 1:14). It is fitting that for Paul this redemption or forgiveness of sins is equivalent to being delivered from «the power of darkness» (verse 13). When God saves, He also delivers. And that work of deliverance reaches us all.
Therefore, instead of clinging to the concept of having to do something to be saved, let’s enjoy this great truth: Christ has already done everything that is needed for our salvation. Our role is to believe it and «stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free» (Galatians 5:1).
www.meditacionesdiarias.com
https://twitter.com/meditacionesdi1
http://www.instagram.com/meditacionesdiarias7
Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Angelica Cuate
