Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."

I'm sure all of us at some time have received a gift from someone. The neat thing about a gift is that the giver usually has put some thought into what they are giving. Generally, we buy gifts for people we know pretty well..often for people that we have some type of relationship with..when we buy a gift, we want that gift to be a blessing. We want to buy something that will have meaning..something that the person will like and can use. This verse says that salvation is a gift. It is a gift given by the outstretched hand of an Almighty Giver..and the only thing He asks is that you stretch your hand out to meet His..and receive the gift. When someone hands us a gift that they have put a lot of thought into, we would never say, "no thank you"..we would always graciously receive the gift being offered. I wonder why then, with salvation being the greatest gift ever offered, there are some who refuse it.
I love what the verse says..we are saved by His grace, through faith..and NOT that of ourselves. In other words, we do not have to be our own Savior. Jesus is our Savior. We don't have to earn salvation. We just have to receive it. Our "job" so to speak, is simply to believe, and to receive. The next verse goes on to say "not of works, lest any man should boast."
Beloved, there is nothing that you can "do" to EARN salvation. It is God's FREE gift to you. One of the saddest conversations I ever had was with a friend of our family's who told me that he had done too many wrong things for God to ever accept him. He was convinced that the "gift" of salvation could not be offered to him. Beloved, it is offered to ALL..it doesn't matter what your background has been. It doesn't matter what you've done, or not done, what you've said or not said, what you've thought, or what you've felt..this gift is for you...because..as verse 4 says, God is RICH in mercy..and His love for us is GREAT!
Today, remember that you have been loved, and accepted by Him..and because of this incredulous "gift", you belong to Him.