Question:  Dear Greg,

            I know you believe that grace is what saves us, and there is nothing we can do to influence it.  All we have to do is trust in it.  But doesn’t it seem strange that the only way for this grace to apply to us is for US to trust it.  WE must summon the will to believe and trust.  I don’t see how our opinion or inclination about something that is true could have a determining effect on the actual truth itself.  It’s like this: God will only save you IF you believe he will.  There’s something about this that seems wrong.  Wouldn’t it be more graceful to save someone despite his or her inability to “trust”?  Have we misunderstood the gospel?  Define “believe”.  Maybe there’s more to it.  And of course, if so, then it is like we play a part in our salvation.  God bless you in answering this one.  I think it seems unanswerable and I can’t handle generalizations.

            Thank you,

            Robyn

Answer:  Dear Robyn,

            Even the trust and faith that we need to accept God’s grace is given to us by his grace.  It’s ALL about God— none of it is about us.  Everything, in terms of spiritual works necessary for salvation originates with God and is produced by God, although it may be in us and might seem to come from us.  We are his workmanship, created unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).

            God decided upon whom and when he will bestow his mercy and grace— why he does what he does when he does, we don’t know.  See Romans 9:15-16--all of the chapter, for that matter.  Paul is dealing with the issue of why more Jews did not accept Christ.  At the end of the chapter he notes that accepting Christ is not something we produce--believing in and trusting him is not something of human origin.

            Some believe even the desire or interest or question in our minds and hearts, that we want to know God, originates with him.  There is no doubt in one sense that it does, for he made us all in his image.  That means that we have, as no other created being has, a desire to connect with God.  We are created that way.  When we want to find him it’s because he has created us that way and because he is reaching out to us, even though we may not know it.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht