Realizing that their son was gifted, Luther’s parents scrimped and saved to send him to the university, where he studied law. Returning home from school on foot, he and a friend were caught in a thunderstorm, and his friend was struck by lightning and killed. This terrified Luther, and he vowed to enter a monastery so he could search for God.
One question plagued him without ceasing: How could he, a sinful man,
ever become pure enough to stand in the awesome presence of our Holy God
who was an all-consuming fire?
Luther spent years trying every way he knew to purify his soul. He spent hours each day confessing his sins. He beat himself with a whip until he became bloody and unconscious. He prayed, fasted, and slept very little. He stayed out all night long, naked, in the deep snows of Germany.
But one day the Lord spoke to him through the Scriptures, specifically Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith.”
We, too, must learn this simple, yet profound lesson. It is not what we do. It is not what we say. It is not the gifts we bring to the altar to lay at the feet of the Lord that can save us.
We are saved by simple faith in the finished work of Jesus at the cross.
Luther spent years trying every way he knew to purify his soul. He spent hours each day confessing his sins. He beat himself with a whip until he became bloody and unconscious. He prayed, fasted, and slept very little. He stayed out all night long, naked, in the deep snows of Germany.
But one day the Lord spoke to him through the Scriptures, specifically Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith.”
We, too, must learn this simple, yet profound lesson. It is not what we do. It is not what we say. It is not the gifts we bring to the altar to lay at the feet of the Lord that can save us.
We are saved by simple faith in the finished work of Jesus at the cross.
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