Ephesians 2:1-10

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (NKJV)

Salvation is the gift of God, not the result of works. And yet, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works.

As people, we want to succeed. There is, built inside us, an ambition to win, to be better than our neighbor, to get the gold ribbon. We want to do and then be acknowledged for what we did. Think about it. How difficult it is for you to regularly do exceptional things at work or for your family that go unnoticed? Doesn’t it rankle you, at least a little, that somebody doesn’t say something about how much you worked? At what you accomplished? We all want recognition.

And yet, Father God Himself, planned salvation in such a way that we are required to do good works, but those works don’t save us. We can’t do anything to save ourselves. We are lost without a savior, without The Savior. But once saved, we become His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Our good works then become the demonstration of our salvation, but not the cause of it.

Paul tells us that salvation is a gift from God so that no one will be able to boast. Christianity is an odd dichotomy. God made salvation a gift so that we couldn’t boast. The point of the Christian’s life is to bring all glory to God, to lift up our Savior as the only one worthy of praise and honor.

But being a Christian is about more than just not boasting about our salvation. The entire framework of the Christian life is designed so be a life of humility. The apostle Paul taught in Philippians 2:3:

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Gary Thomas, in his book Sacred Marriage, talked about the destructiveness of ambition in the Christian life. He writes:

“I’ve seen men and women blinded by their own ambition, even religious ambition, and that kind of blind ambition does have a tendency to suffocate everything and everyone around them” (p. 258).

Blind ambition. That means an ambition that is distorted to us, an ambition that we cannot see clearly but one that hinders us from being all that Christ wants us to be. It is perhaps, without words, boasting about our lives, our accomplishments, our talents, our dreams. Ambition is an eager or zealous desire for rank, fame, or power. It is also a desire to achieve a particular end.

The word translated “selfish ambition” in the New King James is a Greek word that means “a desire to put one’s self forward.” In a sense, it is a desire to be recognized for what we’ve done. It is the desire to be able to boast. And yet boasting is the opposite of humility, the life to which we are called.

So what can I say about this? My salvation is a gift from God. It wasn’t given to me because anything I did, but because Father God so loved me that He wanted to do this. I simply had to put out my hand and accept the gift. But as a result—that interactive process of grace working in my life and my heart responding to it—my life should produce good works. Not just a good work now and then, but be permeated with good works which enrich the lives of those around me. And I can’t even boast about those good works because they are a result of God’s workmanship in me through Christ Jesus. If anyone deserves a good word or praise, it is the Lord for what He has done and is doing in me.

Father, thank you for my salvation. I hope to someday completely realize the price you paid for me, but as I am able today I thank You so much for loving me as You do. Work through me, Father, to do good works that bring You glory. Help me to learn how to live humbly and not to seek the praise of others. I want to learn how to please You and You alone so that Your thoughts of me become my only reward. I ask this in the name of my Savior.

© 2012 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.