If you’re wondering how God puts up with you and your sometimes questionable behavior, it’s because salvation was never about what you did or didn’t do. It was always about what Jesus did for you on the cross, once and for all.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:6)
God didn’t choose you or me because what we did was super awesome (that’s superlative of the same thing, I know and that’s the point). I’m not saying that what you do and how you behave is not important because it is important that when you are saved, you live like you’re saved. However, I am saying that salvation did not present itself to us on the basis of our works. There was nothing good or bad we could have done to be presented with the opportunity to be saved. The work we could do when offered a chance to receive grace is to actually receive it. That’s as far as our works are concerned– receiving grace into our lives.
God chose to give grace to you and me because He knows we could never “work” enough to obtain salvation. We are received by God through God’s works, not ours. If you ever read anything in the New Testament you know that none of the disciples did anything worth mentioning before God saved them by grace. Then you find that their lives are empowered by God’s grace for works they never imagined doing.
The next time your faith is rattled because you know you should have done “better” works, remember that those works didn’t save you in the first place. It was God’s grace first, and it will always be God’s grace when we proceed to do works.
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