One of the saddest developments in the religious world today is the great misunderstanding of the grace of God.  Some believe that grace completely eradicates the need for man to work out his own salvation (Philippians 2:12).  Sadly, this group is composed of the majority of people who believe they are following Christ.  The doctrine of “grace alone” is the foundation of the denominational churches that came out of the sixteenth-century reformation movement.  Even sadder is the fact that some in churches of Christ are teaching this false doctrine.

“We are saved by grace plus nothing.  You are saved by faith period.  There is nothing you can do to be saved.  There are no rules; there are no regulations in serving Jesus Christ” (Glen Owen, Midtown Church of Christ, Fort Worth, TX).

Such a doctrine would come as a surprise to Jesus Who taught, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).  That we are saved by grace is clearly taught in the scriptures (Ephesians 2:8-9), but being saved by “grace plus nothing” is a different matter.  No one will be saved without doing the will of God.

This long-standing false doctrine is not what concerns me the most.   I am more concerned with brethren who do not realize that we do not have to be perfect to go to heaven; thus, robbing themselves of the joy of God’s grace.  While works of obedience are essential to salvation, meritorious works are not.  In fact, outside of the theoretical, meritorious works are not even possible, seeing that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

If you are a Christian, you should rejoice every day that we are saved by God’s grace.  Grace is not some magical potion that is poured on us, it is God’s unmerited favor.  To be saved by grace means that God saves us due to His unmatchable love and what it has provided for us, namely, the blood of His one and only Son that washes away our sins.

Nothing is more important or powerful than the blood of Christ in God’s scheme of redemption.  His blood cleanses us from all sin continually, as long as we walk in the light (1 John 1:7).  If you are a Christian, that is, one who has properly obeyed the gospel (Acts 2:38), and you are living by the gospel of Christ, walking worthy of your vocation (Ephesians 4:1), you are saved.  PERIOD!

Christians need to know that we are not saved by works alone any more than we are saved by grace alone.  Whether you go to heaven or not is not a matter of being good enough.  Paul once said, “…no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12).  We have the hope of heaven because God, by His grace, teaches us what we must do to be saved (Titus 2:11-12), and then gives us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), including His Son as an intercessor for us, allowing us to be saved to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25).

Don’t let the devil fool you into thinking that you have to save yourself.  Don’t allow yourself to be miserable, doubting your relationship with God because of your personal weaknesses.  God’s grace allows us to have hope despite our weaknesses.  So, rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4), knowing that as long as you walk after the Spirit, living by the Word of God, you are in favor with your heavenly Father, and your soul is secure.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.