By Faith

Here is another outstanding quote I read this morning from Charles Spurgeon's All of Grace. 


"Faith is the tongue that begs pardon, the hand which receives it, and the eye which sees it; but it is not the price which buys it. Faith never makes herself her own plea, she rests all her argument upon the blood of Christ. She becomes a good servant to bring the riches of the Lord Jesus to the soul, because she acknowledges whence she drew them, and owns that grace alone entrusted her with them...So God has selected faith to receive the unspeakable gift of his grace, because it cannot take to itself any credit, but must adore the gracious God who is the giver of all good. Faith sets the crown upon the right head, and therefore the Lord Jesus was wont to put the crown upon the head of faith, saying, 'Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace.'"


Last month as our mission trip to the Czech Republic drew to a close we found ourselves watching a strange (to say the least) group of French Circus performers putting on a show in Old Town Square in Prague. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the show were the jugglers. They kept one-upping each other. They would add one more ball, then add a spin or two, then a flaming torch and on and on and on. It was whimsically entertaining.


If we were all honest, I think we would agree that our lives look like this juggling contest. We've come to believe that if we can keep all the balls in the air, then we will be acceptable to GOD, and even better if we can add more and more and juggle more and more then we will become even more loved by GOD.


But, if we drop the ball, or we see someone else juggling more than we are, then we end up feeling less loved, less important, less a child of GOD.


This is why we are saved BY FAITH through grace, and not by our own works. We can't manage on our own. I love what Spurgeon wrote above: "Faith is the tongue that begs pardon, the hand which receives it, and the eye which sees it; but it is not the price which buys it."


Christ bought our pardon at the cross, and we receive this pardon in faith by receiving what is freely offered us. When we attempt to juggle enough to make ourselves acceptable before GOD we are placing the crown on our own heads, but faith places the crown on the head of the one who is worthy, the one who laid down his crown humbly on our behalf.


Have you taken the crown off your head and placed it upon Christ?


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.
- Ephesians 2.8-9