THROUGH Faith, BY Grace

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— (Ephesians 2:8 NIV)

A story: There were three men being chased by a bear only to reach a ledge overlooking a lake. The first man thought, "I don't think the lake is frozen over enough to save me but I will jump anyway. The second man thought, "The ice is probably thick enough to safe me, so I will jump." The third man thought, "I am sure the ice will save me, so I will jump." The all three jumped and the ice was plenty thick enough and all were saved.

The point is that it didn't matter how much faith each man had, the outcome was the same. Like the woman who suffered from an issue of blood for many years... she didn't need a lot of faith she just needed to reach out to Jesus. Just jump. Just reach out.

We are not saved BY our faith, but THROUGH our faith. We are saved BY grace! What a huge difference that one little word makes! One thing I learned by looking back over all the years before I embraced my faith and began attending church: God is there whether we know him or not. He is always persuing us and encouraging us through life. We can ignore him... that is our choice. But he will stay right by our side until we are willing to use that tiny bit of faith to jump. Or to reach for the hem of his garment. And then we will know that even though we THOUGHT he probably wasn't there, he was there all the time ready to break our fall.

Father,
Thank you for being there even when our faith is weak. Thank you that it is THROUGH faith but BY your grace we are saved. Amen.

Joys: making a home-cooked meal for my boys; an extra long holiday weekend ahead; Cecelia's "help" washing dishes.