December 17, 2015 – Thursday
Today, I’m thankful for salvation by grace through faith in Christ and not through our good works.
Last night, God reminded me of this gift when He gave me the opportunity to minister to one of my patients who is a 75 year old woman. Restless and calling my name at 2am, my patient professed her feeling of “not making it anymore,” losing hope of not getting well, and regretting and wanting to “make things right this time.” Before considering giving her a PRN medication to calm her nerves, I thought it was the perfect moment to share the gospel because you never know when her “time to go” would be. Having her as my patient last week and seeing her decline this week made me conclude that she is not getting better but worse. Her mentation was worse, as she was more anxious than the first time I met her. We had a serious conversation about anxiety in the beginning, and then it lead me to asking her this question: “If you were to die tonight, where do you think you’ll go? Heaven or hell?” Being a “religious” and good person she is as she mentioned, she answered with a hesitation and regret: “I have done good things in life and I believe in God, but I don’t feel it’s enough. I really don’t know.” Her answer opened a door for a great exhortation of the gospel.
I began to discuss to her that she was right for saying that “it’s not enough.” Good works are not enough to earn salvation. Our standards for what is good is far different from God’s, and not anyone could meet those standards, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).” All of us are deserving of God’s wrath, and in fact, we cannot earn our salvation. But the good news is that God has given us the gift of salvation from His wrath because of His grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (ESV).” This is the result of God’s undying love for sinners like us, as John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There’s only one way we could get salvation, and that is through God’s grace in us. We must believe in our hearts that we are wretched sinners who need salvation from the wrath of God. Only Christ could save us from that, so we must personally trust our eternal destiny to what he did on the cross and His resurrection: “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).” Of course, I did not throw all these verse in her face, but our conversation was straight to the point. We ended it by prayers of confessions, repentance, and acceptance. I truly believe that she has been saved. God is good. I also encouraged her that God will help us in our anxieties when we pray and ask Him for help. I asked her to use relaxation techniques and pray during this time of need. She calmed down and slept afterwards.
What a great gift of salvation! It’s amazing to think that our hope is not in this world and not in we do. We cannot trust and put our hope into a life that perishes. It’s good that to be saved, our good works don’t matter, but it’s God’s grace and our faith in Christ that make us acceptable to God. Thank You, Lord!
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A crown of righteousness for Imay! As Billy Graham said in his deathbed: “one more soul for Jesus.”