How is salvation totally Gods initiative?
Eph. 2:8; 3:7; 2 Cor. 9:15. Life eternal comes from knowing God. Yet, we cannot bring about a restored relationship with God on our own. We cannot come to God and say, “Let’s be friends. There are certain things in my personality that I think you would enjoy, and I suspect that there are aspects of your personality that I would enjoy. Let’s get together!” We can do nothing to commend ourselves to God. The grace of God alone brings hope. “When we come to him in sincerity pleading for pardon, he forgives. We need not wait to make ourselves acceptable; for we can never. We cannot do works that will commend us to God when we have sinned. We must come to the cross, and lay our burden of sin upon Jesus Christ, and believe that we are pardoned for Christ’s sake who died for us.”Ellen G. White Articles, Signs of the Times (Sept. 30, 1889), vol. 2, p. 325. As you study 2 Corinthians 5:19 and Romans 5:8, what do you learn about God’s character? While it is true that we have nothing within oursel
