Choices

Faith?  Works?  It is the age old question, built into Christianity from the earliest moments, when followers of Jesus questioned the gift of salvation delivered by the crucifixion because it was, quite simply, too easy.  We want to work for our salvation (or perhaps, if we are being devastatingly honest, we want others to have to work for theirs.)  We want to be in control of it, to earn it, and to know others have worked as diligently as we have so it's all nice and tidy and, well, you know... fair.  We want choices - to choose whether or not grace is available, based on our own system of right and wrong.  We want to be judge and jury where salvation is concerned, because it is much more difficult to reconcile the grace bestowed at the cross upon someone we see as unworthy than it is to accept it for ourselves.  But God had other plans.

God is the author of every story, the creator of each and every person.  We are loved and cherished, as a good parent loves a child, without qualification, and he invested himself in each of us.  We should not be surprised, or resentful, that he made grace available to everyone who accepts it.  It is an act of selfless love, and God has always loved us recklessly.

Salvation is his gift, entirely unearned.  God does not qualify sin - we are all sinners, and are all undeserving.  We cannot work for it.  We cannot make it happen on our own.  Grace is a gift, given at great price, and available to all who believe because he loves us.

How do we know this?  Read the words of Paul in Colossians 1:5 (NRSV):

"...because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel...."

Hope laid up for you in heaven.  Wow.  Those words speak to my heart.  My God hopes for me to choose him.  Why then, is it so difficult to act on that faith, proclaiming this priceless gift to all the world?

Is faith even possible without action?  When you truly believe in something, you want to spread the word, share your experience, enlighten everyone you meet with your fervor.  Should our belief in God be any different?  Shouldn't we be as excited about God as we are about essential oils or jewelry or cookware or a new love or job or whatever else we can't resist?

Our fervor to share our faith should be the foundation of our actions.  We don't act because we are forced to, we act because we can't wait to spread the good news.  Our hope is in the resurrection, and our acts are the manifestation of that hope.  In fact, faith gives our lives purpose, resulting in the desire to do good works to glorify him.

Human beings desire choice and control, and God created us that way.  But the question is not really faith or works, as we generally frame it.  The real choice is whether we believe in the free gift of salvation God provided, or reject it.  Our actions are a result of how we answer that question.

Faith without works is empty, not because salvation is not real, but rather because when we truly believe, we cannot help but act.  I choose faith.