₦airaland Forum

Ephesians 2:8-9
(8 )  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
(9)  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This faith in Christ which a lot of us Christians claim to have; it is a gift given to us by God.
It wasn't by our doing that we got or acquired this faith, it wasn't because we were smart to grasp
the import of God's word, or that we were on a higher pedestal than some others that we came to believe in Christ.
It isn't because of some so called choice which we made on our own to turn from the ways of the world.

We have faith in Christ because God was so kind to bestow us with this gift of faith. Without God bestowing this gift
on us, we would not be in the faith; we would not believe in Christ, we wouldn't be Christians.

It is God's gift that made us Christians, not any effort or choice or intellect of ours (see verse 9 above).
So, it is easy to conclude that without God bestowing the gift of faith on a person, he/she can't be saved; no matter the barrage/torrent
of preachings of the word of God.

I say all this because over time through my experience on this religion section/forum, I have noticed the edge some Christians
seem to unknowingly or knowingly display over those that aren't Christians (eg. Muslims,Atheists,etc).
It's almost like saying "You guys are useless and silly for not choosing/believing in Christ. I was smart enough to be convicted
by the word of God and am saved because I chose to be."

This is bad. A lot of christians display this attitude on this forum and if they're honest with themselves, they'll know if they are guilty of this
one way or another.
They have gotten to the point in which they feel they have an edge over others and are unknowingly proud about this and are unknowingly
boasting that it is because of their so called "choices" (works) they are saved.

I say this again: We are saved, not because of anything we did, not because we were smart, not because we were better than those who are atheists/Muslims/buddhists, etc. We are saved because God had mercy on us and bestowed upon us the gift of faith without which we wouldn't have
been saved.

Let this fact reflect in your lives as you deal/interract with others on a daily basis; especially those of a different faith.
Remember, the only thing you can do for them is to make known to them the truth of God's word and leave the rest to God and pray he
grants them the gift of faith.

I don't boast of intellect or works or wisdom or anything. True, we're saved by grace through faith, but let's be wise to NOTE that God HAS dealt to EVERY MAN the measure of faith(Romans 12). It's up to each man to make use of this faith and not bury it somewhere, calling God austere and saying 'He'll save me if He'll save me'. And to NOTE that the grace of God that brings salvation HAS appeared to ALL men (Titus 2). Gone should be the days when devil hid these truths from us. If any man thirsts, let him COME. God with us.