From today’s reading...
Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit.” Ephesians 2:8-9
There’s a lot of confusion about this sentence in Ephesians because we are lazy and want things to be easy, and what’s easier than to accept a gift you don’t deserve and end up with everything you could ever want and more?
That’s what many Christians believe, and they point to this sentence today in Ephesians to justify their justification.
But because we are lazy and want things to be easy, those same Christians either ignore or dance around James 2:26, “As a body without a spirit is dead, so is faith without deeds,” but I digress…kind of.
The fact is, everything we have, including our next breath, is a gift from God, but in the same way God expected Adam and Eve “to cultivate and take care of” the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15).
So if God expected mankind to work with the tools and resources He provided them when they were already in paradise, why wouldn’t He want you and me to work with the tools and resources He provided us to get to paradise, i.e., James 2:26?
The well-meaning but misled Christians who want to focus on Ephesians and ignore James might be described as monergists, whereas those of us who believe in the full teaching of the entire Bible can be described as synergists.
Spend some time researching those words and how they apply to today’s reading and your salvation, which is the only way to...
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.
Now go sell something.
