I read an article some time back (on a blog that doesn’t exist anymore), and it got me thinking about a fairly common practice. Let me ask you this: When someone offers to do something nice for you or to give you something, what’s your first response? If you’re out to dinner with a friend, and she picks up the check, do you argue about it or do you accept her generosity? What would you do if you were sick, and you heard a neighbor mowing your lawn? You’d probably offer to pay him for the trouble, which is fine, but what if he refused? Do you insist (and keep on insisting) that he accept payment, or do you thank him for his gracious gift of kindness?
…salvation itself is a gift; Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that
I contend if we have trouble accepting gifts and kind deeds from our friends & neighbors, we have the same difficulty accepting these things from our Heavenly Father. Indeed, salvation itself is a gift; Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that. So often though, we quote those 2 verses and leave out verse 10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Consider this:
- We are created to do good works. (Ephesians 2:10 – By the way, any scripture references you see in any of our articles here, if you hover the mouse pointer over them, you can read the verse in a popup. If you click, it will open in a new tab.)
- We glorify our Father when we do so. (Matthew 5:16)
- Thus, when you fail to accept a gracious gift from someone, you prevent him or her from fulfilling the purpose for which we were all created! You prevent others from glorifying God.
What do you think?
