You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. (Ephesians 2:1-10, NRSV)

This passage ends with the great Lutheran verses, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” And that is usually where we Lutherans end it. But that isn’t the end of the section or the thought. The author of Ephesians continued, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

You see we are saved by grace, and there is nothing we can do to earn that grace, it is a gift. But because we have the gift we are moved to action. We are moved to do the works God prepared beforehand for us to do.

So we can’t do anything to earn grace, but once we have it, we can’t do enough because of it.

So be saved by a gift, and moved to action by that same grace!