The Redeemer’s Gift

The Redeemer’s Gift

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes. . . . For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:22-24

Chuck Swindoll once noted that as humans, we seem to be addicted to doing something to earn our salvation. I am guilty as charged, along with a whole host of my friends.

It’s really no surprise. We see it all the time in the world. We work to be paid. We study to earn grades. We plant to harvest. We’ve heard the phrase, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Over and over there is a causal relationship between our efforts and our production and prosperity. Yet salvation is a free gift from God, contrary to everything we have ever known and been taught since birth.

Football is a lot like that. Our efforts in preparation—whether through our draft and player analysis, off-season practices and workouts, weekly practices and game planning, or play calling—lead directly to our results. We are publicly measured on those efforts every single week by a very clear marker: the score of the game. And usually, the harder we work, the more often we win.

However, our spiritual prosperity doesn’t hinge on our efforts. The basis and foundation of our faith and the spiritual growth that occurs in our lives is in our relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship is established not because we do something to earn the right to the relationship, but simply because we recognize what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross—He took all of our sins, and those of everyone, everywhere, upon Himself.

He stood in for you, the sacrificial “pinch hitter,” and pardoned you so that now you can stand in God’s presence, holy and blameless before Him. And as costly as that gift was for Jesus—it cost Him His life—you cannot do anything to earn it. It was given as a free gift—requiring you to simply accept it.

Uncommon Key > In the busiest moments of your day today, stop and thank God for giving you the precious, free gift of His Son.