You Can't Earn it

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 1For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -Ephesians 2:8-10

So, I spent about 13 hours at church yesterday. The morning was busy with the usual stuff, then the afternoon and evening was busy with men's softball practice and the biggest fund raiser of the year. At about nine o'clock last night, I finished cleaning up the kitchen and walked to my car...I sighed as I sat down and felt my tired feet begin to relax....cranked the engine...."click, click, click" (look of confusion on my face)...try it again...."click click click"....(confusion turns into irritation). So I went to get the keys to the church van and jumped the car...let it run for a while, then turned it off and tried to start it again...same result (repeat) Then I phoned a friend and he suggested driving the car for a while before I shut it off...so I did, half an hour later, I shut the car down and tried to start it up...."click......" so I gave up, and sarcastically muttered to myself..."That's what I get for spending the whole day at church raising money for missions." The Bible nerd in me started thinking about how Martin Luther might be getting back at me for putting a scripture from James (he wasn't a fan of that book) on the slideshow we showed during the fund raiser...but on a serious note, it goes to show you that there isn't anything we can do to earn God's favor...because it's been given to us....no charge, all we have to do is accept the gift of grace and try to lead the life of love we are called to.