Chapel Blog
Yielding Results
We are not saved by works; we are saved for them.
In other words, Jesus is not just our Savior, He is our Lord.
In other words, Jesus is not just our Savior, He is our Lord.
What does this mean? Well, for the sake of analogy, think about getting into a good school. While you’re writing essays and sending out applications it feels overwhelming – and it is. But writing an essay to get into a school is nothing compared to the many essays you’ll need to write to graduate four years later.
Getting a job is the same way. It takes very little effort to get a job (relatively speaking), but to keep the job, you have to do a lot of work every day.
One day after you get married to someone you plan on being with for life, you may have children. You’ll discover that it doesn’t take much to become a father. It takes more to become a mother. But to be a good father or mother is all consuming.
There’s a pattern to all these examples that the amount of work it takes to get something is a fraction of what is required to succeed once you’ve gotten it. In fact, there’s an old cautionary adage for those of us who are always gazing to the horizon for the next best thing, “be careful how much you fight to get what you want, because you may not want what you get.”
This is true in our faith, but to the fullest extent. Salvation is a gift of God, meaning we do not do anything to earn God’s gift of salvation. We don’t write an essay, get extra credit for our good ACT (pun intended), no application required. Instead, God in His sovereignty, did all the work to make a place for those whom He calls. It says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
But we are not saved just to kick back and chill. We are saved for a purpose, just like getting into a school, or getting a job, or becoming a parent. Now that you’ve got salvation, there’s work to do and a purpose to be fulfilled. Psalm 1:3 says, “to yield fruit in season,” but Ephesians 2:10 says it too, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
You can’t tell your college professor that you deserve an “A” because your application essay was great. You can’t tell your boss that you deserve a raise because your resumé was a wesome. You can’t be a good parent simply because you did what was necessary to make a child. And you can’t expect God to be okay with your life with Him to consist of salvation alone. That would be dumb. We need to feel the weight of responsibility to honor God with our lives when the price of admission to His kingdom was the death of Jesus.
Besides, the real adventure of the Christian life is in Jesus simple calling, follow me. Who knows where He’ll take you, but if He saved you then He’s your Lord, and if He’s your Lord, then get ready for an amazing journey.
Westminster Christian School, located in Palmetto Bay, Florida, is a private, college-preparatory school for children from preschool through twelfth grade.