It is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
The Christian life is God’s work in which we become involved. The problem is that we can become so interested in what we are doing that we lose sight of what God is doing.
This is sometimes true in conversion. The Bible makes it clear that “salvation comes from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). “It is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Salvation is God’s work. Jesus saves!
It is also true that we are involved in God’s work. If you are a Christian today—you repented. You believed. You committed your life to Christ. But if all your attention is focused on what you did, it is easy to lose sight of the amazing fact that God saved you!
It is the same with baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We can easily focus on what we are doing and lose sight of what God is doing.
Baptism is the sign and seal of God’s great work in bringing the sinner to new life in Christ and cleansing the believer from sin. But it’s easy to lose sight of what God is doing in baptism. When that happens, baptism becomes about giving our testimony, or taking a step of obedience. It’s true that in baptism we confess that Jesus is Lord, and it is a step of obedience. But if we lose sight of what God is doing, baptism will feel more like a human work than a gift of grace.
In the Lord’s Supper, we gather around the table. We remember and proclaim Christ’s death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). But what is Jesus doing at the table? Don’t lose sight of this.
Where might you be more focused on what you’re doing than on what God is doing?
