In the Christian understanding, Grace is the unearned, but a loving gift of God, and Salvation is the rescue and restoration of a soul to its right relationship with Him. This understanding creates a unique relationship between our actions and our destiny. This article explores that dynamic…
Think of it like having diplomatic immunity. A diplomat lives in a foreign country and follows its day-to-day customs, but their ultimate citizenship, identity, and legal standing are determined by their home country. In the same way, a believer lives in the world and interacts with its system of cause and effect, but their eternal standing is secured by the laws of a higher Kingdom—the Kingdom of Grace.
>>> Not by the merit of good deeds but by the Grace alone you get salvation. The grace of sacrifice of Christ Jesus. If deeds were a means for salvation, law would suffice and the sacrifice loses its purpose.
So should we say that good deeds have no merit? Yes indeed they have. But not more than the merit of having His Grace in us to do those good deeds.
So there is no need to equate good deeds with eternal benefits, but equate it with the norms of the Kingdom of God. Because you have got multi-folds of benefits already. Which are much more than our deeds to equate with. So, does this world not count on the equation of good and bad for all actions and consequences? And the equation of the fruit of those actions (karma)? Yes, It does. But it is not the people of the Kingdom of God because, Citizens of the kingdom of God do not operate by the standards of the world,, but the world does.
So, you can now do all the good deeds by the Grace of God, and then get its fruits freely from the world system because the world is designed only to give as per your deeds., though which also does not acknowledge the True God who is above (in all respects) than the world. And your merits of good deeds are to be increasing in the world, that is the characteristic of The Kingdom of God, which can not be stopped. But not to claim your deeds as a means for your salvation or as a means to limit all that is much more than your capacity to do good in the world by means of weak human self, – limited by flesh.
Yet if the world system which is threatened tries to stop you, persecute or destroy you, the good doer, then it doing crime against its own law of equation, which is to give you the fruits of your actions based on a binary – good or bad. Therefore, now the score (in the world) is increased for you because, the opposing system is going against itself by going against its own law – by which it fundamentally operates. And Now nothing can stop you from expanding the Victorious Kingdom Of God. That is why martyrs were willing to die joyfully for Christ . . .
This is also true that no human has any ability to do Good by one’s own strength. That does not mean, any bad action is an excuse to say that there is lack of Grace which is to be blamed. A choice is given to choose the grace. And making that choice is given by God himself, therefore it can not be prohibited or hindered. Then If bad deeds are taking place, that implies that a good choice had not been made.
Perhaps, if you came from a background filled with wearying arguments about Grace versus Good Works, please read on calmly. The truth that sets us free reveals that, this is the wrong battle. Grace and works are not enemies; they operate in different dimensions. Grace is the unearned, but a Free Gift of much more, including the citizenship in God’s Kingdom that secures our salvation. And of course, The Good works are the joyful and powerful evidences of that citizenship — the way we bring the light and logic of our true home, into a world (presently) that is still in the dark. This understanding frees us from both the pride of legalism (thinking our works save us) and the apathy of cheap grace (thinking our works don’t matter).
It is the key 🔑 that invites us into a life of grateful, powerful action, secure in the knowledge that our place in the Kingdom is already sealed.
[“If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) ]