We had a Bingo Night at church, and I went understanding that I hardly ever win. We started the night, and the announcer was encouraging me while calling out the numbers. I was resigned to just having fun with folks when she kept calling numbers and all I had was one marked on my card. And then one after another, from one corner to another on my card they were marked off and I had a Bingo! I jumped up and yelled “Bingo” and the entire room cheered for me as I went to our prize table to claim my winnings. I sat back down and felt pretty good and then realized…I had done nothing. There was no skill involved, no effort expended, no creativity needed. All I did was mark off the numbers, like I was told…and I was declared a winner. But that’s the way Bingo works. I thought about that as I looked at my little stuffed goat I now owned and realized that this whole thing reminded me of how I and everyone else was saved by this Jesus of the Bible. We did absolutely nothing! There was no skill, no special knowledge, no creativity involved on my part. My and everyone else’s salvation was a gift. My forgiveness was by God’s grace…all I did was choose to believe what he said was the truth. There is no credit that I can take for it. Salvation is not a reward for doing good things and making the good out-weigh the bad in me. I get to walk up and claim my prize, eternal life, knowing that God did it all. My part was to simply say “yes” to his offer. That is both pretty humbling and pretty awesome. Remember that a Bingo game is not going to take any skill or goodness on your part. Just listen and respond by marking the card. And for salvation…just listen to God tell you how much he loves you and me and what he has done for us on that cross so many years ago. No one who accepts that gift can ever boast. All we can do is to lift our hearts to the one who has done it all and thankfully accept forgiveness and eternal life from him. And when you do, you will experience the biggest win you will ever experience here on this earth. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (9) Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (9) Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ