Saved by Grace

To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark.

I also realize the deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by our Lord and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.

However, I/we need to remember what John mentions in his book: Chapter 2 verse 1b: When John calls Jesus “our Advocate,” he means that our Savior stands before the Father to plead our case. Yet Jesus' work as our Advocate goes far above and beyond the work of an earthly defense attorney, for His case for us is grounded in the work he has done to secure God's favorable verdict (Rom. 8:1–4).

If you look at Ephesians 2: 8-9

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. What does Ephesians 2: 8-9 mean?

We are saved by the grace of God alone and not by any action we perform or any noble characteristic we possess. All of us are sinners and fall short of what God requires. Yet God has demonstrated his great love for us by sending Jesus Christ to be our Savior even while the entire world was lost in sin. God even sets the conditions that make faith possible and gives us the gift of faith so that we can respond. Salvation is an act of God, and God, alone, gets all of the credit.