2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

— Galatians 3:2-3

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

— Ephesians 2:8-9

‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

— Acts 17:28

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

— Romans 6:14

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

— 2 Corinthians 12:9

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

Dependence on works to earn God’s favor results in ongoing frustration and failure. Unable to measure up to God’s perfect standards, people reject the idea that their actions even matter. They may even wrongly believe they’re good enough as long as the good outweighs the bad. God wants us to turn our eyes completely on Him the only perfect One and to live, move and have our being in Him and by His free grace.

We Christians today do not earn God’s favor by what we do but worship God through loving commitment and obedience empowered by His Spirit. Faith, then, is professed not just in words but in actions that demonstrate God’s grace, such as showing unconditional love and unearned favor to others just as God showed it to us.