“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, but the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly though Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”
I liked these verses for a few different reasons...
First, God has a love for mankind, so much so that He sent His beautiful Son to come and save us. This was something He didn't have to do for us, especially after we chose to disobey Him, but He did it anyway!! :0)
Second, there is nothing we could have done to save ourselves, no righteous deeds will do it. But what will save us is God's mercy and our obedience in Him.
Third, God has "poured out richly" the Holy Spirit upon us. I sometimes feel like the Holy Spirit is underestimated in His role in our lives. He guides us and protects us and works within us, which are all things we should thank God for in our prayers to Him!!
Lastly, I love how it says that "this is a trustworthy statement!" We can trust in the statement that the Holy Spirit has been poured our through Jesus upon us and that we are justified through Hi grace to be made heirs in the hope of eternal life!! This is my favorite part because God is telling us to be confident in our salvation to Him!! I feel like sometimes we get caught up in what we do, and maybe feel like we can't do enough, which may make us feel insecure in our salvation. Well, that is true, we could never do enough to cleanse of our sins, BUT God doesn't expect that of us. What He does expect is obedience and good works, and to have faith in Him that He will save us if we devote our heart and lives to Him. It's a choice that we must make, but once we do make it, we can be confident that our magnificent God will hold up His part of the bargain. I hope that we can uphold our part. :0) God is so good to us. SO good!!
I love those verses too! Especially the "I want you to speak confidently" part. And he says that if we speak confidently about God's grace, then we (and others) will be careful to engage in good deeds. When we stop feeling like we have to *earn* salvation and start trusting confidently in God's grace, that actually gives us MORE energy and motivation to do good works that please God!
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Mindy you are exactly right!! :0)
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