Your Identity
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the verse is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and 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'm meeting atheists and agnostics and Buddhists and Jews and Hindus and Muslims. Many of them are kinder, wiser, more decent, more respectful and better people than the Christians I know. How could this be?"
Here's what we have to say. You may have gotten an A on your Christian doctrine test. You checked the right box when the question was, "Are you saved by grace alone or by your good works?" You may have gotten your doctrine right, but you are a Pharisee functionally. You think that you are saved by your works! Don't you understand that in all of the religions and philosophies of the world what makes you right with God is things that you have done. Christianity says, "No, what makes you right with God is things that He has done." Because of this you should expect to find people who aren't Christians who are better, wiser, gentler and more generous than you.
If that shocks you, it shows that you really thought the reason that you were right with God is that you were kinder, gentler, wiser and more generous. You had an identity that did not understand the doctrine of grace.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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