"What are Independent and Critical Thinking?"
By Sharon Presley, Ph.D., Executive Director, RIT
"Majesty - King of Kings and Lord of Lords"
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
Many people want to be right with God in the way they think is honorable and respects old fashioned values: they want to earn their right standing with God.
Yet the New Testament is clear, and one such clear place is Ephesians 2:8-9. This tells us that we can't earn a right standing with God. Instead, it is a gift we receive by faith.
But we must remember that faith is not an honorable work by which we earn salvation.
Although good works accompany true faith, faith in and of itself is not a "work." Faith merely sees the offer of God, and believes it to be true. It looks at the promises of God and says, "I believe these promises are for me." In simple terms, faith is refusing to call God a liar. It is taking God's word at face value, and trusting that both He and His word are reliable.
When we do not have faith, we deny that God's word is true and are really calling Him a liar.
What merit is there in not calling God a liar?
Of course God is truthful, and it is only common sense for us to recognize the fact.
There is a story about a man who taught a Sunday School class full of small boys. One day he offered a boy in the class a brand new watch but the boy thought that it was just a trick.
Fearing his classmates would laugh at him when the trick was revealed, he refused to take the watch.
The teacher then offered it to the next boy, but he followed the example of the first boy.
One by one, each boy refused the watch because the offer seemed too good to be true; certainly, they thought, the teacher only wanted to trick them. But the last boy was bold enough to accept the watch when the teacher offered it to him. When the teacher actually gave it to him, the other boys were shocked – and even angry.
But the teacher used the whole situation to show them that no matter how good a gift was offered to them, they must believe the word of the giver and receive the gift before it could do them any good.
God offers the gift of rescue –
rescue from sin, from self, from the sting of death itself –
to all who will simply come to Jesus full of faith,
trusting in who He is and what He did for us on the cross.
As Jesus said in Revelation 22:17: "Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." This is an open invitation to receive rescue from Jesus. He will not push away anyone who comes to Him. But remember: an invitation is both an opportunity and a responsibility.
If we decline an invitation, we have only ourselves to blame
In 1829, a Pennsylvania man named George Wilson was sentenced by the United States Court to be hanged for robbing the mails and murder. For some reason I never learned of, President Andrew Jackson pardoned George Wilson – but the prisoner refused the pardon. Wilson insisted that he was not pardoned unless he accepted it. That was a point of law never raised before, and President Jackson called on the Supreme Court to decide.
Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision. "A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged." And he was.
Even so, God's offer of pardon and rescue in Jesus
is offered to many, but only those who trust in God
and His word will gain the benefits of that pardon.
Today, why not simply believe what God says?
And when you do, don't think too highly of yourself – it's really only doing the sensible thing.
By David Guzik
For Bible Study resources by David Guzik, go to:
www.enduringword.com/library_commentaries.html"
Posted by Ken Coolidge on the TMB ~ ~ September 21st, 2008
