What a privilege and blessing it is to be a Christian. All the guesswork is taken out of salvation because salvation is given to us at the beginning of our life with the Lord, by His grace, through our faith. We need never worry if the life we are living is good enough to get God’s attention or blessing.

I began life in a religion where I never knew if what I did was going to please God enough to be accepted by Him at the end of my life. I remember the fear that brings into a heart daily.

I am ending my life with a faith that is so different, so comforting, so wondrous. God came to earth as a babe. There is a Christmas song with the phrase, “there were many babies to become a king, but only One King became a baby.” [“One King” by David Phelps)

Isn’t that the most amazing thought? Our King became a baby and lived a singular life unto God, died on a cross and became the atonement for our sins, so that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ. Now the life we live is not to achieve salvation or atonement, since God has given that to us freely; now the life we live reflects His glory in us, a life He has ordained full of good works done from a thankful heart.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-10: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  [NLT]

The good works that we do are not to win God’s favor for that has already been granted. The good works we do flow out of the love God gave for all that first Christmas.