Redemption and Pride

I realized I haven't written in a week. And, I haven't blogged about anything interesting in at least 10 days.
So, here's something that might be interesting. It is to me anyway! This struck me this morning as I was reading the bible.

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

Hmmm... I love the book of Ephesians. It's so clear about who we are as God's people, and what we should do, what is pleasing to God.

This passage sticks out to me because it reminds me that our actions do not redeem us. Nothing that we've done makes us good, or worthy, in God's eyes. He has no reason to give us all that he has. We can't be generous enough; we can't pray enough; we can't go to church enough; we can't be kind enough; we can't sell all that we have and give all the money to charity enough to make God love us. He has made the choice to love us. He has redeemed us based on the fact alone that we believe that Jesus died for all the crap that we've done. There is no way we can be good enough on our own to weasel our way into God's good books. Wow. It's humbling to think about that.

We've done nothing to deserve God's love. We have done nothing to deserve what God has done for us. He has offered us a free gift of life after death, in Heaven. And not only that, but until we are ready to go there, he offers a satisfying life here on earth.

What would the world be like if people could work for their salvation? How would humans act differently if we could be "good enough" to go to Heaven? Would people live lives pleasing to God, or would we still be in the same messes we are living in now?

I know for me personally, if my salvation required that I be "good" I would ultimately feel frustrated and defeated. I would be incredibly competitive. I would do "good" things and would be constantly comparing myself to others. "Am I better than that guy over there? Maybe I'll get to Heaven and he won't, if I'm just a little bit better than he is." I would try, day after day, to do good things, but I'm sure my heart wouldn't be in the right place. I would always be left wondering if I'm doing enough, and would never be sure of my future. I think I'd be overly anxious and paranoid.

Even in this life, with the way things really are, I try to be "good". I forget that God's already done all the work. And this does leave me dissatisfied, because I try to be perfect and it's impossible, but still I try.

I think if I kept in mind that God's death on the cross is the all-encompassing payment for my sin, I wouldn't have those times. *Sigh* God is so good for what he's done. What makes me so prideful to think that I can prove myself good enough on my own?