It saves us from our claustrophobic little world, where we wrap our identity and significance around trinkets and hobbies. It saves us from investing our lives in mediocrity. It saves us from the cultural status quo. In other words, the grace that saves us really does save us. Right after he speaks of God’s grace rather than our works saving us, he goes on to speak of God preparing good works for us to walk in. This is what the Apostle Paul is getting at in Ephesians 2:10.
Our hope being set on grace must arouse within us a holy confidence that God is going to work through our lives actively. This grace is both preparing for action and forward looking (hope looks forward)! In other words, grace not only deals with our past, but with our present and our future. Peter calls us to be “preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace…” (1 Peter 1:13). Rather than grace becoming the scapegoat to cover our vices (turning grace into a passive security blanket), grace is radically active. Grace isn’t less than forgiveness it is so much more. In other words, we hear grace talked about alot in regards to God forgiving sin, and we should! But when we limit grace to only be about forgiveness, then our goal becomes about being forgiven rather than being changed. Isn’t this a glorious thought? Yet, there is a trend in Evangelicalism to relegate grace to the diminished domain of mere forgiveness. Ephesians 2:8-9 are exciting verses: We are saved by grace, not by works! Consider this, my works cannot make me acceptable to God, therefore God accepts me based on His work. After all, it is by this grace that we have forgiveness. It is God’s unmerited favor and kindness towards us. As Christians we love grace, and we should. Grace! This word is rich with meaning and oozing with significance.
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