ShiftNäide

There’s nothing quite like receiving a gift. Especially a gift that you know you did nothing to earn or deserve. And while we’re happy to receive the gift, often we try to look for little ways to make it up to the giver. Maybe it’s something like giving a gift back in return, providing some sort of favor, or even working hard to be as nice as possible to the person. But what happens when the gift is so big, so great, that there is nothing we can do to earn it?

Jesus has brought us a beautiful gift—the gift of an eternal life with Him. And there’s nothing we can do to earn it. There’s no ritual, no tradition, no good work that we can do to earn our way into heaven. There’s no checklist of things we can do to gain salvation on our own. All we are asked to do is accept the gift of Jesus in our lives.

Spend some time alone with God today, either on a walk alone or in prayer. Ask God to show you if, in big or small ways, you’ve been trying to earn grace instead of freely receiving it from Him. What are some ways you can remind yourself of the free gift of salvation this week?