It’s likely you didn’t wake up this morning and think Hope my white blood cell counts are climbing! I did. Why? Due to a recent bone marrow transplant, my blood cells have been doing their own version of the “limbo” (“How low can you go?”). Low counts aren’t good. They mean you’ll have a tough time fighting off disease and that you might be dealing with some serious medical maladies. Those tiny little red-and-white blood cells can’t be seen, so most of us simply take them for granted.
The apostle Paul had to convince some first-century readers not to take for granted something they couldn’t see: God’s saving grace. Paul knew that some folks in the Corinth flock were focused on the wrong “counts.” Instead of claiming God’s grace alone for the basis of their salvation, they were still counting on their own righteous deeds. So Paul spelled it out: “All of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18). To those still trying to conjure up their own holiness, he declared: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Today, as in the early days of the church, some of us are trying to earn our salvation. But to do so denies the grace of God and makes Jesus’ matchless sacrifice appear to be unnecessary. That’s why Paul wrote, “We beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s [grace] and then ignore it” (2 Corinthians 6:1). To do so, would be saying to God, “Uh, thanks, but I’ll simply help myself.” Paul quotes from Isaiah 49:8 for the right view: “On the day of salvation, [God] helped you” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
What are you counting on?
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 9:20-31
More:
Read Ephesians 2:8-10 and consider what Paul says about the source of our salvation.
Next:
What is the basis of your faith? How does the way you think and live reveal that you’ve been saved by grace through faith?
Tom Kopper on October 21, 2012 at 11:55 pm
Countless number of people rejects God’s mercy and grace for salvation. They countinally think that there (finite) work(s), can measure up with God’s (infinite) work of salvation, through Jesus sacrificial death of the cross, being buried, and raised back to life.
However, God does eccept just (one) work from man. “This is the work of God, that you,
[ BELIEVE ] in Him whom He sent .” John 6: 29.
tom felten on October 22, 2012 at 10:03 am
Great verse, Tom. I like how James provides a balance to those who might think that belief without living out those beliefs is acceptable to God. Check it out in James 2:14-20.
mike wittmer on October 22, 2012 at 10:38 am
We are all so glad that your counts are up, Tom–both physically and spiritually!
tom felten on October 22, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Thanks, Mike. Part of the mystery of my my four-time survivor cancer journey is why God has chosen to have me remain on earth while some friends and family members with cancer have been called home to be with Himself. But I bow before Him and His sovereign ways—He is God and I am not! (Psalm 46:10).
winn collier on October 25, 2012 at 1:30 pm
I know this isn’t what your piece is about, but as I read, I was mainly prayerful for God’s healing on your behalf.