What Makes You Right With God
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.
One of the things that my wife Kathy and I have had to do over the years is reprogram people who have moved to New York from places in this country where they were living in strong Christian homes, churches and cultures. They move to New York, and they go through a crisis. They say, I am meeting atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and many people who are kinder, wiser, more decent, more respectful and better people than the Christians I know. I am having a crisis.
Here is what we have to say. All of the religions and philosophies of the world and every basis of every identity says that what makes you right with God is things that you have done. Christianity, on the other hand, says that what makes you right with God is things that He has done. What that means is that you expect to find people that are not Christians that believe very different things who are better, wiser, gentler and more generous than you. If that shocks you, it shows that you really thought that the reason that you were right with God is that you were kinder, gentler, wiser and more generous, and you had an identity that did not understand the doctrine of grace.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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