Faith or Failure

May 21

(Luke 10:25-37 NIV) “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" {26} "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" {27} He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" {28} "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live.”

(Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV) “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, {5} made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. {6} And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, {7} in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. {8} For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- {9} not by works, so that no one can boast.”

A religious lawyer came to test Jesus, wanting to see if He was faithful to the Law. He asked the Lord what he had to do to obtain eternal life. Instead of giving an answer, Jesus asked the lawyer, “What do you think?” The lawyer answered, “Love God more than anything else and with everything you have -- and love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” Jesus told him he was correct, and that to earn eternal life he needed to go and do this. But the lawyer knew he couldn’t -- nobody can. We can try, but we all fail. So the lawyer tried to get Jesus to narrow the field. If there were less people that he had to love, perhaps he could succeed at earning eternal life. He completely neglected the first part of the equation about loving God. No one does that perfectly. We can’t obtain eternal life by “doing stuff”. And so it comes down to grace. It’s faith or failure. Take your pick. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day