Martha Cothren, a high school teacher in Arkansas, wanted to teach her children a history lesson. When students arrived, there were no desks to sit on. She told them they could not have a desk until they could tell her how they earned the right to sit at a desk. None answered correctly, so they had to sit on the floor. Television crews started gathering. When the final period came, Cothren opened her door and several war veterans walked in, each carrying a chair. The teacher then explained to the students that they had not earned the right to sit at desks, the veterans had. They had paid the price so the students could get an education. And nobody earned the right to call himself a Christian. Jesus did. Paul described The Savior’s sacrificial act for us all, when he wrote, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell