”For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
These verses are two of my favorites, and you have probably figured this out, since I have written about them quite a few times. Well, they came to mind recently when I was talking to someone I knew while shopping for camping stuff. Boy, did she get worked up about the condition of the country. I remember specifically one thing that she said a couple of times. She said, “People today want something for nothing. They don’t feel like they need to work for anything. They think they are entitled to everything.”
As I made my escape I thought to myself, “I couldn’t get a word in edgewise,” (that very seldom happens, so I thought I would mention it), but right after that thought, I thought to myself that there is one situation when many people do just the opposite of what she is saying. A time when they refuse a free gift and instead think they must work for it. That is when it comes to their salvation.
Isn’t that funny? Not funny ha-ha. Funny strange. I think that the lady I was speaking to was correct that many people believe that their everyday needs should be met for free. I think that sentiment is probably worse than ever and is just a sign of the times.
We have all heard the phrase “entitlement society” before, but the truth of the matter is when it comes to salvation we are the “unentitlement society.” We are “unentitled” to salvation and it needs to be free, because we can never earn it. Even if it only cost a tiny bit of what was worth, we could not afford it. Even if our “worthiness” was added into the equation, we could not afford it. Even if all our good works were counted toward the payment, we could not afford it. No matter what, we could not afford it; yet, ironically, no matter what, many will not accept the gift of salvation without trying to pay for it.
In America, especially, there is a strange dichotomy. Although many may want “freebies” they are also told that working hard will give them more “good” things in life and that doing nothing will bring more “bad” things in life. They hear the message, but are left to decide how to use it. Some sit and wait to receive things on the backs of others and others work hard and carry the load for themselves and others. The burden of salvation is only carried on the back of one Man. The cults and “isms” and even some “non-believers” all have the same mantra. “If I do enough, maybe I will be accepted into eternity by god.” Right now we have some zealots that believe they can “kill” their way into heaven. What we all must understand is that we can’t work our way into heaven with good deeds, bad deeds, or any deeds. Yes, indeed, there is only one deed that can pay the price for our salvation and that deed took place on a wooden cross over 2,000 years ago.
This will come a shock to many but the lines, 
“He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake,” is not about God’s plan for salvation. It is important to understand the grace of God so that we can experience it, and also so we can share Jesus accurately with non-Christians. There are two things to keep in mind when we are sharing Jesus with others. One, we can never be good enough to earn salvation and we can never be bad enough to be ineligible for salvation. This salvation is based on God’s grace and we can only receive it, “lest we should boast.”
So in conclusion (yes, I can reach a conclusion) , we can never be good enough for salvation. The book of James (2:10-11) tells us if we break any one of God’s laws that we are guilty of breaking all of them and Jesus said in Matthew 5:27 that even if we only think sin, we are guilty of sin. We cannot be perfect, yet God’s righteousness demands perfection. Since we are in the middle of baseball, let me put it this way. We have to hit 
1000% to get into heaven. We can’t. But there is designated hitter that will go to the plate for us who does hit 1000%. Even if we hit .300 or .500 or .700, we will always fall short unless we use this designated hitter. Let’s encourage others to step out of the batter’s box and accept Substitute who has never failed.
There is a saying that says, “Nothing in life is free,” and what that means is that somewhere somebody has paid for it. That is true. And in the case of salvation it has been bought and paid for at great cost. What a shame if it is not accepted. The greatest thing that we can do is not try to earn salvation, but to say, “I give up. Christ, You do it.” That is what Ephesians is telling us. The bases are loaded. It’s the bottom of the ninth. We are behind. No one should allow pride to keep them in the batter’s box. Here is a guarantee- we will all strike out. Only Jesus who has already come through, will come through. Go back to the dugout and watch Him do His thing, then come out and enjoy the win.
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