Not My Way

Bible Reading: Ephesians 2:4-10

Weston sighed as he dropped his backpack on the floor of his friend Grady’s house. Grady had gone to Bible club with him the day before, and the boys had been discussing the lesson the whole way home from school. Grady couldn’t seem to believe that salvation was a gift and not something he had to work for.

“When we do something wrong, we need to make it right,” Grady argued as he kicked off his shoes. “We shouldn’t just expect God to do it all for us and not do anything ourselves.”

“We should admit we’ve sinned,” said Weston. “But we can’t make ourselves right with God. We need Jesus to—” Weston paused at the sound of a loud thumping noise. “What’s that?”

The boys hurried to the next room, where something was moving frantically in the fireplace. “It’s a bird!” exclaimed Weston, looking through the glass fireplace doors. “I think it’s trying to get out.”

“Yeah,” said Grady. “They come down the chimney sometimes, and they can’t fly straight back up. My dad will have to catch it with a net and take it outside. I’ll go tell him after we have a snack.”

Weston looked confused. “Why don’t you have your dad catch it and take it out right now?”

“If we open the fireplace doors now, that bird will fly all over the house,” said Grady. “Believe me, we’ve tried before. We’ll have to wait till it’s tired out. Then it will be much easier to catch.”

Weston grinned. “Why don’t you just explain to the bird that it can’t get out on its own?”

“Yeah right!” said Grady. “I wish I could make birds understand that.”

“I wish I could make you understand that too,” said Weston quietly.

Grady looked at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

“The bird has to stop trying to get out on its own before we can help it,” said Weston. “And we have to stop trying to save ourselves and let God help us. We can’t escape sin by trying to be good on our own—we need Jesus to save us.”

Grady was quiet for a moment. “I guess I’ll have to think about it some more,” he finally said. “Let’s go have a snack while we wait for that bird to settle down.”

-Sophie M. Huber

How About You?

Are you depending on Jesus for your salvation? Or are you trying to get to heaven your own way? There’s only one way to be saved from sin and have eternal life, and it’s through Jesus. Salvation is a precious gift from Him. There’s nothing you can do to earn it, so stop trying to be good enough on your own. Simply trust Jesus to save you.

Today’s Key Verse:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today’s Key Thought:

Only Jesus can save