“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of Yehovah.” Ephesians 2:8
When we first put our trust in Yehovah and in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Yeshua, as our Saviour, we do so knowing that we had to come, like the old hymn says, “just as we are, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me.” At that point in time we realised that we cannot earn our salvation, but must simply accept it as the free gift of Yehovah, undeserved and unearned.
However, often over a period of time, we grow a more earnings-based mindset. We then spend our lives swinging the pendulum between two polar opposite positions. On one hand we try to earn the love of Yehovah, doing things we think will make us worthy of that which He has given us freely and without limit. On the other hand, we can easily adopt the belief that we were saved because we chose to put our faith in Yeshua, earning His love and our salvation through something we chose to do. But the very faith we put in Yehovah’s grace was given us – and it was His grace, rather than our faith, that saved us.
The foundation of our salvation is built entirely upon one fact. As Romans 5:8 tells us, “But Yehovah commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Yeshua died for us.” No matter how much faith we have, be it a mustard seed or mountain sized, even that faith could not save us if the love and grace of Yehovah had not been bestowed upon us. As 1 John 3:1 says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, (so) that we should be called the sons of Yehovah.” We must always remember that it is only because of His love, mercy and grace, given freely to us, that we are saved.