256 – Don’t Forget to Save

#faithbites #faithjourney save

So I just realized that this faithbite has technology in it and it is #256 which is a common computer number for memory and such. Kinda cool. Ok, now onto faithbites…

Last night I was working on my dissertation and through a stupid copy and paste error, I lost about 40 minutes of work. And no ctrl + z didn’t work. For those of you who don’t know, that’s an undo command. I was pretty ticked off, but let it go. It reminded me of those “old days” before autosave and autorecovery where if you didn’t remember to save and then the computer crashed or the power went out, everything was gone. I can’t remember how many papers in college I lost or video games that I lost progress in because I forgot to save. Then came the autosave after x minutes, then the instant save. I can’t wait until that is more prevalent in everything, but I digress.

Why am I talking about remembering to save often or autosave? Because with Jesus, you don’t have to remember to be saved. Once you are born of the water and the blood you are saved. As long as you do not reject him, you are saved. Even though your sinful acts, you are saved. It doesn’t matter how good you are or bad, because your works don’t grant saving, only through his sacrifice are you saved. Pretty amazing that even though we don’t deserve it, we have salvation.

Scripture on Being Saved

• For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
• But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. – Romans 11:6
• but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, – Romans 9:31-32

Reflection

We are saved by grace alone. We should want to live like Christ, but there is nothing we can do in our power to earn salvation as we are broken, sinful creatures. In the old testament, man tried to live by the Law to bridge that gap. They were ultimately unsuccessful because we can not keep the law, it is impossible. Christ died on the cross to bridge the divide of sin between man and God. Through that act the law of man was fulfilled. Thus through Christ we are saved.

I think about the number of #faithbites I have lost to computer glitches or the number of newsletters wiped away because I forgot to save. I can’t imagine how life would be if I have to constantly think about what I need to do to have salvation. If I had a checklist that I had to live by or a todo list to earn salvation. My whole life would be wrapped around that and I would still fail.

We are blessed to not have to live by the 660 some laws of the old testament. We are blessed that we have salvation through Christ alone. Yes, we should follow his commandments: Love God and Love People. They aren’t required as no amount of works can save us. If we believe in Christ, are born of the blood and water, and confess our sin, we are saved.

Charge

Do you try to earn your salvation? What do you do on a daily basis to try to make yourself a good or better person? What if you truly believed that you were saved by Christ alone? Would that change your outlook on life? In my case, I choose to be better, not because it earns me salvation but because it is pleasing to the Lord. If I am created in his image, I want to show that.

Lord, help me remember that I am saved by you alone. That my works can never bridge the chasm of sin.