Happy Wednesday

Salvation is a gift

If anyone could have achieved salvation by his own efforts, it was Martin Luther.
In 1505, when he was 21, he abandoned his career in law and entered the monastery, but not to study theology.

His motive was to save his soul.
He gave himself rigorously to the prescribed ways to find God.
He fasted, prayed, devoted himself to menial work and practiced penance.

In his quest for salvation-
- he confessed his sins, even the most trivial ones, for hours on end until his superiors, wearied of his exercise, ordered him to stop until he committed some sin worth confessing!
He was the most exemplary of monks, yet had no peace.

Luther tried to satisfy God's demand for righteousness through good works.
But what works? he thought.

What works can come from a heart like mine?
How can I stand before the holiness of my Judge with works polluted in their very source?

It was not until John Staupitz set him to studying the Bible that Luther realized what the difficulty was.
He was trying to earn salvation by works, when the righteousness needed was not human but divine.

He then understood that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:21.

Luther learned to stop working for righteous.
Salvation is a gift received by faith, given by God to everyone who calls on His name.

Perhaps Luther's example will help you see if you are like him, trying 'to do' your way into heaven.
It can't be done that way. It can be done only by calling on the name of the Lord.

In The News:

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Wages War on Christians

As violence envelops Egypt, Christians are paying a heavy price, with scores of their most sacred buildings and monuments being systematically destroyed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in what one Coptic leader called an attempt at ethnic cleansing, Fox News reports. The group has zeroed in on Christians since the Muslim Brotherhood-backed administration of Mohamed Morsi was ousted on July 3. The military removed him from power after he imposed several sweeping constitutional changes that appeared to put the nation of 90 million on a path toward Islamist rule. "The Muslim Brotherhood continues its attacks on churches to implement their scheme, which includes ethnic cleansing and the forced displacement of Copts," said Abul Ezz el-Hariri, a Christian and former presidential candidate from Alexandria. "Egyptian churches are part of a blueprint by the MB to lure other Islamist groups." At least 50 Christian churches and schools have been looted and set ablaze since fierce fighting broke out last week. In one recent case, Islamists torched a Franciscan school and then paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war" before a Muslim woman offered them refuge. The campaign of intimidation also has targeted the homes and businesses of Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the nation's population. Under fire, Christians are solidly backing the military's harsh crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. "The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt ... confirms its strong stance with the Egyptian law enforcement, the armed forces, and all of the institutions of the Egyptian people in its confrontation of the violent armed organizations," said the nation's Christian leader, Pope Tawadros II. Monasteries, dioceses, churches, schools and other property of Copts have been targeted since government security forces broke up Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Raba al-Adaweya and Nahda squares on Wednesday.