And she told me she is being baptized this Sunday.

“As a child, I walked the aisle at my church, was baptized, and that was it. I’ve always felt unsettled about my salvation experience though, and about a month ago the Holy Spirit showed me why. During Pastor Brett’s sermon I realized I was trying to save myself,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ve tried to make it on my own goodness. I thought if I was good, God would be pleased with me. I never understood grace until that day,” she said. “He said Jesus plus anything else does not equal salvation. He said that God’s grace is a free gift we cannot earn but can only accept.”

That Sunday I watched as Linda was baptized the second time, for all time. And we rejoiced. Heaven rejoiced over Linda that day!

God’s grace is a difficult concept to understand because we’ve been taught that no one gets a free lunch. But Jesus is the only One who can save us from our deep abyss of sin. We don’t deserve His grace, and yet He gives it to any of us who will accept it. Completely. Perfectly. Permanently. Salvation is not Jesus plus our church membership. Not Jesus plus our good works. Not Jesus plus our offerings or our service or our prayers. If salvation could be earned, if grace is something we deserve, if we could save ourselves, then we are serving a man-made god, bringing Him down to our level. There would be no reason for Jesus to have died.