ICS Daily Devotions
Salvation Is by Grace
Mark 10:17-20 (NKJV) Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honour your father and your mother.’ ” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
Is there any conflict between being a Christian and being successful in the corporate world? Many people misunderstand net worth to be a measure of spirituality, but are rich Christians necessarily carnal or worldly and poor Christians necessarily more spiritual?
Although the young ruler in the passage was very rich, his riches couldn’t give him fulfilment in life. Deeply moved by Jesus’ teaching, he was also desperate enough to look for an answer by coming to Jesus and kneeling before Him, given a man of his status.
In fact, he asked a question that is on the minds of all religious people, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”, or in other words, “How can I earn the acceptance of God in order to have eternal life?”. He was honest enough to acknowledge that there is life after death, and he didn’t know how to deal with it.
It is very normal for people to use their own strength to try and be good in order to obtain the acceptance of God. In fact, all religions emphasise the need to be good as a prerequisite for any form of godliness or attainment in order to gain acceptance by their gods. Unfortunately, nobody can be absolutely good because of the sin nature that resides in them, therefore they will never attain the sense of acceptance by God, like running on a treadmill that never gets to the destination. Religion is trying to change a person from outside, while the real problem is inside of us—an issue of the heart.
Jesus said, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” Nobody is good because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and nobody is able to overcome temptation and sin because of the sin nature. In fact, when Jesus mentioned a few of the ten commandments such as ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ and ‘Do not steal,’ He knew one would break one of these laws because a business might not be fully honest and adultery begins in the heart even without the act.
The law will never be able to give us a right standing before God because it only acts as a mirror to educate us on sin. Salvation is by grace alone.
Sermon Series: Are You Young and Rich?
