“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life<\/em>” (John 3:16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One of the most wonderful things about the gospel is its openness. The promise of salvation is open to “whoever believes<\/em>,” no matter how badly they may have wrecked their life.<\/p>\n
However, there is a popular concept of faith which sees it as something a person cannot have unless he’s one of those to whom God chooses to give it. In one of his movies, for example, Tom Hanks plays a character who, when asked if he believed in God, replied, “Faith is a gift that I have yet to receive.” That is a gentler way of putting it, isn’t it? Rather than saying, “I don’t believe there is a God,” characterizing it as a gift not given suggests that a person wouldn’t object to being a believer, but that God has simply not given the gift.<\/p>\n
Scripturally, Ephesians 2:8 is often used to argue that faith is imparted by God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.<\/em>” However, a close look at what Paul says is that the gift is salvation, not faith. He is emphasizing that nothing we may do, even choosing to believe, is enough to earn or merit our salvation. It is a gift.<\/p>\n
The Gospel of John, in its entirety, is a study of what faith is and how it happens. John records a number of frank statements about faith made by Jesus, including the one where He said, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins<\/em>” (John 8:24; cf. 3:16; 20:30-31).<\/p>\n
If we do not believe the message of Christ is true, let’s accept responsibility for the choice we’ve made. Our choice to disbelieve is not due to the withholding of a gift by God – it is due to our verdict that the gospel is not credible. But this matter is too great to leave it there. Let’s not make our choice so final that we never revisit the message. From our perspective today, it may be more compelling than it appeared in the past. If we see that Jesus was, in fact, telling the truth, the question is: what are we going to do about it? The choice is ours.<\/p>\n
One day there came along that silent shore,
\nWhile I my net was casting in the sea,
\nA Man who spoke as never man before,
\nI followed him; new life began in me.
\nMine was the boat, but his the voice,
\nAnd his the call, yet mine the choice.\n(George MacDonald)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gary Henry via WordPoints.com “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). One of the most wonderful things about the gospel is its openness. The promise of salvation is open to “whoever believes,” no matter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,563],"class_list":["post-94027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-unconditional-election"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1013,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-believe-that-baptism-could-be-linked-to-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":94027,"position":0},"title":"Do you believe that baptism could be linked to grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you believe that baptism could be linked to grace? Answer: In the Bible, grace is the concept of a freely given gift; a gift that the recipient has not earned nor has necessarily deserved to receive. God's gift to mankind was the life of His own Son. \"For\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-one-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":94027,"position":1},"title":"When is one saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When is one save? Is he saved after he confesses that Jesus is the son of God? Or is he save after he is baptized? What saves Him? And are there supporting Bible verses for such questions? Answer: Since, \"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-guarantee-of-the-holy-spirit-miraculous\/","url_meta":{"origin":94027,"position":2},"title":"Is the guarantee of the Holy Spirit miraculous?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the seal and guarantee or earnest of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13-14? One view of the seal is that it is the miraculous gifts of that time. The ones who hold this view will use Acts 19 where Paul laid hands on the disciples in Ephesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/granted-repentance-unto-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":94027,"position":3},"title":"Granted Repentance Unto Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton A drunkard might repent of being a drunkard and hurting his family, but such repentance is not such a repentance that makes him right with God regarding all his sins. It is a needed repentance that helps his physical well-being and his family's quality of life,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50844,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-give-grace-to-all-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":94027,"position":4},"title":"Does God give grace to all people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does God give grace to all people? Does that mean He does not exclude anyone? Does grace come to the Christian as well as sinners? Answer: \"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-we-love-god-how-do-you-define-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":94027,"position":5},"title":"When we love God, how do you define love?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been writing a paper on what it means to love God.\u00a0 I have some parts and to love God you follow his commandments; if you don't, you don't love God. But how do we define love? I have been thinking about it for a long time. 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