{"id":6968,"date":"2026-02-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6968"},"modified":"2026-01-26T20:13:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:13:22","slug":"salvation-is-a-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6968","title":{"rendered":"Salvation Is a Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Today is the day the Lord has made\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-1024x997.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6969\" width=\"262\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-1024x997.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-300x292.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-768x748.jpg 768w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-600x584.jpg 600w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-1536x1495.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-2048x1993.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ephesians-2.8-churchartpro-1320x1285.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>I will rejoice today because salvation is a gift from God that I do not have to earn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many think they can earn salvation by being good. Truthfully, no one could ever be good enough. Our salvation doesn\u2019t depend on our goodness, but on God\u2019s goodness. God\u2019s goodness and His love make salvation possible. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salvation is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). Accepting this wonderful gift saves us from the penalty of all our sins: past, present, and future (2 Timothy 1:9-10). Nothing we do will make God love us more, or even less. God loves all of us unconditionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our good works could never produce salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). However, our salvation should produce good works (Ephesians 2:10). Realizing how much God loves us should inspire us to serve and obey Him as an act of worship, not to gain His favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I rejoice because my salvation does not depend on my goodness, but on God\u2019s greatness!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cGreat is the Lord and most worthy of praise;<\/em><br><em>his greatness no one can fathom.&#8221; ~Psalm 145:3 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today is the day the Lord has made\u2026 I will rejoice today because salvation is a gift from God that I do not have to earn. Many think they can earn salvation by being good. Truthfully, no one could ever &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6968\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6970,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions\/6970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}