Transformed – teen devotion – October 17, 2021
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8
Faith Alone
Imagine that you were hanging off a cliff. I know, it’s kind of silly, but play along. You’re hanging off a cliff and your two hands are holding onto two different things. One hand is grabbing a rod of steel rebar that is well-anchored into the rock. And the other hand is hanging onto the root of a dead tree that is cracked and almost broken. Both hands are squeezing equally hard. The difference isn’t how hard you cling, but what you cling onto. And that’s the same truth for our faith in God.
God saved us. It was all his doing. He loved us before creation. When others don’t think about us or care about us, God does. He always has. And his grace took shape in place and time when Jesus walked through life perfectly for us, died to take away our guilt, and rose from the grave to guarantee that we are forgiven forever.
But imagine what it would be like if that was all true, but it wasn’t for you. Imagine hearing that good news—the best news ever—but it was for others and not for you. That’s what it’s like to have nothing to hang on to. It’s a life where you live just for the moment, just for some stuff, and only for a time. But then what? That’s hanging onto a broken root.
But not you, dear Christian! You have been saved by grace through faith. And the faith that God has put in your heart is also his gift. The arm to reach, the hand to hold, and the strength to cling to all of God’s gracious promises. That is God’s gift of faith which clings to the steely power of God’s saving love.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep me strong in the faith and clinging to your saving grace in Jesus my Savior. It’s all your gift. Amen.
