No man can save himself!

Each day I find more and more evidence that I am a flawed individual and truly not worthy of anything that I have. Each thing I have come to acquire, achieve and gain is not a merit of who I am as a person rather more evidence that God is faithful and willing to pour so much on us through grace. It is evidence that it is by grace that we are saved. It is evidence that if you are willing to submit unto God and seek his kingdom first, he will take care of your needs.

I have made mistakes and I make mistakes daily. In life, as a husband, as a father and as a man. I am not infallible! No one is except God.  Jesus says in Mark 10:18 "why do you call me good? No one is good - except God alone"!  We strive for perfection when that is not what we are called to.  If we needed to be perfect there would be no need for God; Jesus would not have needed to die on the cross and man would have all the answers! But as we can clearly see, man does not have all the answers! We try to hide behind achievements and material possessions, titles and awards, the little worthless trinkets that society bestows upon us, thinking that these will give us value.  These will give us self worth, these will provide us with an identity. We seek to enrich ourselves with mans wisdom whereas the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:25 "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" it then goes on to repeat in 1 Corinthians 3:19 "The wisdom of this world is foolishness is Gods sight .  As it is written 'He catches the wise in their own craftiness'".  How important must this fact be that the bible finds it worthy to repeat?!  Yet we are fascinated with the pursuit of worldly wisdom.  Proverbs 9:10 says "The fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy one is understanding".  Now when the bible mentions fear, it is not talking about fear as we know it. Rather it speaks of a reverential fear.  What does that mean? Well reverence means:

1. a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.

2. the outward manifestation of this feeling: to pay reverence.

3. a gesture indicative of deep respect; an obeisance, bow, or curtsy.

So reverential fear is a fearful respect; in other words, a fear of not giving God the respect he deserves. Isn't that what we see daily? Isn't this what we do daily? Or lives are characterised by this constant lack of respect for God. That is why we need Jesus, that is why his death on the cross is significant. That is why his act of love and restoration through grace is important and dare I say the most important thing in our futile lives.

That one act; his blood offering as the sacrificial lamb of God restores us, redeems us, purchases us and frees us from the slavery and eternal damnation of sin!

So bearing this in mind and considering what brought this on, I ask, are any of us worthy of salvation? I say to you no but because of grace, we receive it. In mercy God shows us mercy and allows us to receive salvation by merit of his grace! We don't get what we deserve, we don't have to be perfect, we just have to be willing to come to him.  Matthew 16:24-25 says "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?l Is anything worth more than your soul?".  I am a living testimony that giving up your desires to pursue what God wants for you is truly the best option.  I am challenged daily to be a better man because of the grace and mercy of God.  I am challenged to live a life of integrity, transparency and love! I am so grateful for this gift of salvation! I am so glad that I could not earn it! No one can claim that they saved themselves because Matthew 16:24-26 clearly does away with that notion. The grace of God is a wonderful thing and I for one am not ashamed of this gospel of grace! The gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16).