JULY 14 Romans 4:1-6

The Jews were proud of Abraham who was their father, so Paul used him as an example to teach that Abraham was not saved by doing good works. Abraham believed God and God imputed (put into his account) righteousness to him.

Little Peter was all excited. He was going to the OCBC bank with his mummy. His mummy was going to help him start a “Mighty Saver” Kid’s account. At the bank, the polite cashier said he needed to put in a minimum sum of money to start his account. Peter looked dismayed. He had no money. Then Mummy drew out a $50 note and gave it to the cashier. The cashier typed something and even took Peter’s fingerprint. Peter finally walked home with that little book tightly in his hand, gleaming from ear to ear. He opened it and saw $50 to his name. “Wow! I am rich,” he said to himself.

Peter did not earn the money nor saved it himself. It was put into his account by his mother. Likewise, Abraham did not do any good work to earn any righteousness. Christ put His righteousness into Abraham’s account. With Christ’s righteousness, Abraham could go to heaven.

All these happened BEFORE Abraham was circumcised. So again, it was not the circumcision that made him righteous.

Salvation is all of grace. It is God who shows His grace to us by giving us faith to believe that Christ came and died on the cross, bearing our sins. He not only takes away our sins when we believe in Him, He also imputes His righteousness on us so we can qualify for Heaven.

Thought: We do nothing to save ourselves, for Christ did it all.

Prayer: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving me faith to believe in You so that my sins are forgiven and Christ’s righteousness is imputed onto me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.