For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
- Ephesians 2:8-9
 
You don’t have to earn salvation. In fact, you can’t. You can’t produce salvation or manufacture it or option it or grow it in your garden. This is true for you and for the people you love.
 
And this is good news.
 
We are not the Savior and this frees us to be the Beloved. We’re invited to receive salvation, to enjoy salvation, to celebrate salvation. You can relax.
 
Today’s passage contains a great big “so that.” These types of phrases – “so that,” “because,” “therefore,” “for” – should catch our attention because they tell us something about God’s intention. 
 
What do you make of this “so that”? Paul wants to protect us from the temptation to take credit for our salvation. When that happens, we find ourselves disconnecting from God and from each other. Self-righteousness devastates relationships.
 
What Paul presents instead of self-righteousness is an invitation to live a life of trusting love, a life marked by faith. Faith makes us receptive to the gifts God and our community have to offer us. Faith expresses a confidence in the intentions of the other and the ultimate outcome of events. Faith builds a bridge to a better future. Faith doesn’t focus on self, but rather focuses on the other. And, ultimately, faith unlatches the door for grace and salvation and life and love to enter in and abide with us.
 
Where have you been tempted to take inappropriate credit for your life with God? How has that impacted your relationships? How might God be inviting you into a different way of seeing yourself, himself, and others?