Ephesians 2: 8-9 ⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

 

you know... I think we all say the right words about believing that salvation is a free gift... then we begin to think that we have to be a certain way or do certain things in order to be 'accepted' in God's eyes.. if He accepted us when we were deep in sin.. my guess is that He will surely accept us when we are trying to not be living in sin...

 

so in a sense.. we are all trying to 'earn' something from God...

 

the truth is.......... any service we give to God... any changes we make in actions or lifestyle.. they are not earning us anything other than possibly acceptance from people who don't matter any ways... what we do claiming that it is for God is to be done because we love Him and we want to please Him.. just like any other relationship we have only bigger...

 

think of how we have changed our whole lives around in the past to please a man because we thought we loved him... for most of us.. that man is long gone... none of our actions make someone love us if you ask me.. they either accept us and love us.. or they don't... the same is truth of God... we cannot 'earn' salvation or love either one from Him... we should be living to please Him because we love Him.. not to make Him love us... because He has loved us all along... it is more about us accepting His love than us earning it... 

close your eyes... imagine yourself at the feet of Jesus... reach up.. put your arms around Him... hug Him... accept Him hugging you back... accept His love for you that is unchanging and never ending... allow yourself to be loved...