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D-7816
You may know that old hymn of the faith that says,
“On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.”
Let me ask this: are you on solid ground or quicksand? In many areas of our lives, we can easily be deceived by the quicksand around us and try to build our lives on some of that quicksand. That, of course, is disaster for us! The thing about quicksand is that it can look quite innocent and solid. But when we stand on it, it sucks us under before we know it.
What is some of the quicksand that we can be deceived about in our lives? Well, first and most important, there’s the quicksand of good works. I’m amazed at how many people, even church people, still think that we can stand on our good works and that will get us to heaven. Good works is quicksand; it looks like it’ll work, but it doesn’t.
The Bible is clear about this. In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read the following: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Again in Titus, it says this: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:4-5).
After speaking at a church recently, a woman said to me she wasn’t sure she had the gift of eternal life because she had done so many bad things in her life. Though I emphasized over and over the truth about good works, I could see that she could not process this truth because throughout her whole life she had been taught that she couldn’t get to heaven unless she was a really good person. I realized again how many people are trying to stand on this quicksand of good works.
If you’ve been depending on those good works to get you to heaven, or worrying about being good enough to please God, please believe me: you’re standing on quicksand! Remember the song, “On Christ the solid rock I stand,” and stand on Jesus today. You are acceptable to God because he is acceptable to God. Stand on him alone. He is a solid rock and you won’t go under!