By Jon Burnett
On of the last things we as Christians often preach on is the second chance every man, woman, and child as to come back to the God that created them. We often condemn the sin, preach righteousness, and lambaste the false teaching that robs us of our true liberty in Christ, only to forget the saving grace of our Savior and the love He has so wonderfully shown to us.
Paul had seen this very attitude in the Pharisees and their cronies (remember, he had been one himself!), who looked self-righteously down on the sinners around them as if they alone held the keys to heaven. Because of the hatred and mean-spiritedness he had shown to others, the grace of God stood markedly in his mind. He wrote to Ephesians, �But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ�by grace you have been saved� (Eph 2:4,5, ESV). God�s grace was what provided the atonement for us. We cannot make ourselves righteous, as if we can earn our way into heaven; it had to be given to us.
God�s grace touches every man because He loves us all, but even the best gift must be unwrapped to enjoy its great blessings. God�s grace is just like one of these gifts, �For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God� (2:8, ESV). God has given us the one thing we could not have given ourselves: the eternal freedom that is provided only in the sacrificial love from above.
That faith has but one end: faithfulness. To be faithful means much more than having faith, after all even the demons believe (Jam 2:19), it means doing what God says and living the life that He has set for us to live. So what does it mean to be faithful? It means knowing where to start. Paul had no idea where he was going when he left for Damascus one day, but God did, so Christ appeared to him and said to continue to Damascus for there he would be told �all that is appointed for [him] to do� (Acts 22:10, ESV). What was it that Ananias later told him? �And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name� (22:16, ESV). Paul now had his clean slate! Somewhere to really start from! That simple watery grave gives us a chance to take back everything we ever did wrong and start living right before God and man.
But baptism is just the beginning. This fresh start prepares us for the very life we were created for, �For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them� (Eph 2:10, ESV). We�ve been created for so much more than to live our lives for ourselves! Christianity isn�t a prison for those who would rather not have fun in life; it�s the freedom to seek the best the best in ourselves and those around us for His glory.