It's True! God Wants to Save Us Because We Can't Save Ourselves.

Walking in the Truth

Today's Scripture Readings

[Jesus said], "For God so loved the world that He gave His one & only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9  

" . . . our Gospel * came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit & deep conviction."  1 Thessalonians 1:5
* Good News

Today's Devotional Thoughts

Although the overall theme of my devotionals is "Walking in the Truth," it continues to be absolutely necessary that we know what we mean by "The Truth." The three passages from Scripture that I chose for this devotion spell it out.

• In the first passage, written by St. John, one of Jesus' disciples & a first-hand witness of many of Jesus' acts & words, Jesus declares His Father's inestimable love for "the world."  That would be the entire word:  all people of all time, including you & me!
• The Greek word for love in this passage is "agape," which can be translated as "godly or selfless love," i.e., love that is extended on its own merits without any expectation of receiving anything in return. Which leads to my next point.
• In the second passage, which comes from St. Paul's letter to the Christians in 1st century Ephesus [but is meant for all Christians of all time, including you & me], the apostle makes it clear that our relationship with God is all about Him, His grace, & has nothing to do with our works. Why is this critical to our understanding?
• If our relationship with Jesus, God's Son, was based on OUR actions, OUR behavior, we have several fundamentally flawed conclusions. (1) God is holy & absolutely just, so He cannot tolerate what is unholy. (2) We are unholy, sinful from the moment of our conception when we inherited our parents' sinful condition. (3) In order to win God's approval, we would have to be holy, which the previous statement--entirely scriptural--shows cannot happen. (4) Besides, even if we were born without sin, in order for us to remain holy--sinless--we would have to (a) have a full & complete knowledge of every requirement of God; & (b) we would have to meet every one of those requirements perfectly, 24/7, every day of our lives.
• I don't know about you, but just by mentally rehearsing the 10 Commandments, I have to sheepishly admit that I'm not sure I can even make it past lunch every day without breaking at least one but probably multiple commandments.
• So, how can we possibly be forgiven & saved? The passages in the Gospel of John & Epistle of Galatians explain that it's all about God's love for us, His grace, His choosing us, not us having to earn His favor.
• The last passage, found in St. Paul's letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, confirms that the Gospel--the Good News of forgiveness & salvation made possible through the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ--was preached by the apostles & is now available to us in the Bible.
• Finally, we don't have to count on our own power, which sooner or later will always come up short, come up weak, fail. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, part of the True Triune God--Father, Son, Holy Spirit--to rescue us from sin, death, & Satan.
• We have God's Truth--the Gospel--available to us in both the written & spoken Word. [The Word is present in our Sacraments, too, but we'll save that Truth until later.]

Today's Prayer Thought

Give thanks for God's grace, His undeserved love for us, that led Him to make it possible for us to be forgiven & saved when we could not accomplish this on our own. Continue to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to open your heart & mind to the Gospel Truth found in the Bible, which "grows your faith."