Western society coined the term “rat race”. Wikipedia defines a rat race as:

“An endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit; it conjures up the image of lab rats racing through a maze to get the ‘cheese’ much like society racing to get ahead financially.”

Bills have to be paid and in order to pay our bills we need to work. It is very human to think that the kingdom of God is set up the same way, i.e. we have to earn our way to heaven. This is probably the reason why Jesus was asked more than once (John 6:28):

“Then they asked him [Jesus], ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’”

From a human perspective this is an understandable question. We assume we have to do something so that God can bless us. “There is no such thing as free lunch” we typically say. Well, actually, there is – When Jesus fed 5000 people He did not get paid.

Obviously, we don’t have to pay God to love us. There is such a thing as unconditional love. God loves us, period.

So, what is there left to do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing – and this is the rationale of Jesus’s reply saying: ‘All work is done!’ Interestingly, He puts it this way (John 6:29):

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Even the one condition that grants us salvation – believing in the One God has sent – is God’s work, not ours, and that makes perfect sense. Have you ever tried to love someone because you were told to? How did that work out for you?

In all reality, both faith and love are a gift from God. We love the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit not because we worked hard to believe but because faith was given to us as a free gift.

That’s God’s amazing grace in action.