"Salvation unto us has come By God's free grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom, They help and save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, Who did for all the world atone; He is our one Redeemer.
"Since Christ has full atonement made And brought to us salvation, Each Christian therefore may be glad And build on this foundation. Your grace alone, dear Lord, I plead, Your death is now my life indeed, For You have paid my ransom."
We measure our lives according to certain standards, judging ourselves and being judged, or sadly, passing judgment on others. At work, in school or in sports, we try to achieve a passing grade or win the game. When, with sinful pride, we evaluate ourselves according to God's holy Law, we may tell ourselves that we have done well and that we have earned a few points in the sight of God. Believers and unbelievers alike may imagine that God is satisfied with their good efforts. But how good is good enough for God? 75 percent good? Being good 99.9 percent of the time? Jesus provides the answer to those questions, and it is not the answer we want to hear: "You therefore must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
It is a standard we can never meet. Are we good enough? "There is none who does good, not even one" (Psalm 14:3b). No matter how hard we try, we cannot measure up. The outcome is not the loss of employment or a defeat in sports. The result of our sinful failure to measure up to the divine standard of perfection is death and eternal separation from God. As our hymn declares: "Good works cannot avert our doom, they help and save us never."
We cannot save ourselves, but God can and He has done so. Salvation has come to us "by God's free grace and favor." According to His grace, His favor toward undeserving sinners-and that includes all of us!-God sent His Son into the world to be our Savior. Jesus measured up to that standard of perfection. He had no sins of His own for which He deserved to die. It was our sins that He carried in His body on the cross, where He suffered the death that we deserved. But death could not hold the sinless Son of God, and now through faith in our crucified and risen Lord we are clothed in Jesus' righteousness. We have been brought into the kingdom of God. Through faith in Jesus, we measure up! In the sight of God the standard of perfection has been met. You could never, on your own, make the grade for salvation, but in Christ Jesus, God "has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" (Colossians 1:12b).
WE PRAY: Jesus, You died to save me. Guide me in the power of the Holy Spirit to build my life on that foundation of grace. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, "Salvation unto Us Has Come," which is number 555 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Reflection Questions:
1. Do you find it hard to objectively evaluate another person? What things get in the way of you being unbiased?
2. By what standard does God evaluate or judge us? Is there a way we can ever measure up?
3. What has God done to free us from the burden of our sins and falling short before Him?
Today's Bible Readings: 1 Chronicles 28-29 1 Corinthians 15:29-58
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