“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)

Happy Friday, everyone. Well, the teams are set for the Super Bowl and many of us who are football fans are looking forward to…well, probably the commercials. In all seriousness, thinking about the Super Bowl reminded me of an analogy that I heard. It was an analogy about thinking about the goodness of God and how so often we struggle to really accept God’s free gift of salvation.

The analogy goes like this: Imagine that a friend purchases a ticket for you, and this ticket is for the Super Bowl. It’s on the 50 yard line, great seats. And of course you can only imagine how much this must have cost. And he comes to you and says, “Hey, I know you’d really like to go to the Super Bowl. I know you’d really like to be a part of the game. I’ve purchased a ticket for you. Here, come, and be my guest.” But you feel so unworthy, and you know how much it cost, that you just can’t let him do it. And so you refuse, you say, “Thank you so much, but I just can’t accept that. It’s too much of a gift.”

And so you say no. And then that friend shows up to the Super Bowl on Super Bowl day and he sees you out in front trying to scout for a ticket for the Super Bowl. A last-minute ditch effort to try and get a Super Bowl seat. Probably won’t be a very nice one, but to try and get some kind of a seat in the game. You know, sometimes that’s the way we treat God’s gift of salvation.

It’s absolutely free. And yet we know we’re unworthy of it, truly unworthy of it. And sometimes we fight ourselves to get to that place, to really realize that God wants us to have it and to accept it and to enjoy it and to relax in it. And that’s the gift that God has for us. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT) says it this way, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” You know, the good things that you do are not meant somehow to earn salvation or earn God’s favor. You got it. You’ve got it today because of Jesus. Enjoy it, rest in it, and live it out.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the incredible price that You paid at the cross for our salvation. Lord, have mercy on us and patiently deal with us, as many times Lord, we struggle to just simply accept the gift. Instead, we try to do end-arounds. Or try to make sure that we can really secure our salvation by looking at the things that we do, and the efforts we make, or the things that we sacrifice, as somehow contributing to our right to have that gift.

And yet the reality is, the only right for salvation is through You. Instead Lord, would You open our hearts? Allow us to exhale, and to inhale again with Your grace, and to sit and just to really enjoy this weekend, the knowledge, the security, and the overwhelming joyous position that we have because of the gift that You’ve so freely given to us.

There’s no greater game on Earth than the game that You have won for us at the cross. Help us to enjoy that and help us to reflect that to others. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.