Knowing Your Identity in Christ: I am Saved by Grace Through Faith (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Did you know grace and your own story of faith can be the most powerful discipleship tool you have as a parent?

In this episode of 7 Minute Devotions for Busy Parents, host Christen Clark brings inspiration to busy Christian parents by exploring what it truly means to identify as being "saved by grace through faith." This cornerstone statement of the Gospel shows everything your salvation is based on. Christen shares practical encouragement for raising Christian kids, cultivating faith at home, and making spiritual growth a natural part of daily family life... even amid hectic schedules and endless activities. Don’t miss how sharing your own testimony could impact your child’s faith!

Timestamps:

• How our family purpose is rooted in God’s gift, not performance!
• The power of your personal faith story at home

Resources:

• Instagram: @7minutedevotions, @christenclark
• Family Podcast: @collidekidspodcast

Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:02]:

Hello and welcome to 7 Minute Devotions for Busy Parents. I'm Christen Clark, and I am so glad you're here. For some reason, this month has become extra busy for me and my family. We just have a lot of activities and special events planned and lots of things happening with school and church and so many activities. So I did what every good mom does: I stocked up on all the vitamins I could find at the store for me and my kids, including the gummies. We just cannot afford to get sick in this season. And so let me remind you, if you are also a busy parent, I hope you're taking your vitamins as well, even if it's just a Flintstone chewable vitamin. That is better than nothing.

Christen Clark [00:00:39]:

And no, I'm not sponsored by Flintstone. Anyway, this week we're continuing in Ephesians chapter 2. In the last episode, we talked about being made alive, how God rescued us when we were spiritually dead. So today, Paul makes it even clearer. He tells us exactly how that rescue happened. Our identity statement for today is this: I am saved by grace through faith. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul writes, "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." If you've been in church for a while, you've probably heard that verse before, but sometimes familiarity makes us miss how radical it actually is. Grace, as we've talked about before, means undeserved favor.

Christen Clark [00:01:33]:

It means God moved toward you before you ever moved toward him, before you prayed the perfect prayer, before you cleaned up your habits and your behavior, before you figured out your theology. Grace came first, and faith is simply the open hand that receives it. Let me give you this picture. Imagine someone walks up to you with a beautifully wrapped gift. They hold it out to you and say, this is for you. You don't start offering them money for it. You don't negotiate the terms. You don't say, let me do something to deserve that first.

Christen Clark [00:02:03]:

You just receive it. That's faith. Faith isn't striving. It's not proving. It's not performing. It's trusting. And Paul is very intentional here. He says, this salvation is not from yourselves.

Christen Clark [00:02:17]:

In other words, you did not manufacture this. You didn't contribute to it or co-sign to it. And just in case we miss it, he adds, "Not by works so that no one can boast." We love to boast. Maybe not always out loud— some people do out loud— but internally we can also boast because we love to feel like we've contributed to something. I chose well. I figured it out. I did my part. But the gospel gently removes our resume from the table.

Christen Clark [00:02:45]:

We bring our sin, we bring our need, we bring our inability, and God brings grace. Here's the freeing part that I don't want you to miss: if you didn't earn your salvation, you can't also unearn it by having a bad week. Grace is not fragile. It doesn't disappear when you struggle. It doesn't weaken when you doubt. It doesn't shrink back when you fail. You were saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That means your confidence isn't in how tightly you hold on to God; it's how tightly he holds on to you.

Christen Clark [00:03:17]:

Now, this statement, saved by grace through faith, is the center point of the gospel. Everything comes back to this. And as parents, one of our most powerful ways that we can teach the gospel isn't by defining these theological terms. It's by telling our story. Yes, our kids need to understand words like grace and faith, and what will make the deepest impact for them is hearing how you came to trust in Jesus. How did you come to faith? What did God rescue you from? When did grace become real to you? Why do you believe what you believe? So I want to challenge you today. Have you ever shared your testimony with your children? Have you ever sat down and told them how you were saved by grace through faith? Because when your kids hear that their mom or dad once had doubts or struggled and chose to put their faith in Christ, it makes faith tangible. It moves the gospel from abstract theology to lived reality.

Christen Clark [00:04:24]:

Well, before we pray, let's practice our identity rhythm. So this is something we're going to talk about in each episode of this season. I'll read these 3 short statements: who we are in Christ, why it's true, and how we live from it. This is a good way to summarize what we've just talked about, and I hope that it helps implant these truths in your heart. So here is our identity statement for today: I am saved by grace through faith. I am saved by grace through faith because my salvation is a gift from God. I did not earn it, deserve it, or achieve it. Jesus accomplished it, and I am receiving it by trusting in him.

Christen Clark [00:05:00]:

Because I am saved by grace through faith, I stop striving to earn God's approval. I live with humility instead of pride, and I teach my children that obedience flows from love, not fear. Let's say this identity statement one more time together: I am saved by grace through faith. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for your love for us. Thank you for the grace that you've given us that we could never earn. Thank you for our salvation that is such a gift. It's not something we are being rewarded for our good performance.

Christen Clark [00:05:32]:

It's something that you have given us. God, I pray that you would guard our hearts from drifting into this mode of striving and that we would focus on you and who you are and what you've done for us. Teach us to live our lives as evidence of this gospel truth that we are saved by grace through faith, and help us to share that with others. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, friend, you don't have to prove yourself to God this week. Remember that you are saved by grace through faith. If this devotion encouraged you today, would you take a minute to leave a rating and a review on whatever podcast app you're using, especially Apple Podcasts? They really like the ratings and review. It helps with the algorithm stuff, and it helps other busy parents find out about the show so they can be encouraged too.

Christen Clark [00:06:17]:

Well, I am so grateful for your support. Thank you so much for listening today. Just downloading this episode and taking the time to listen means so much to me. So thanks for being here, and until next time, remember who you are and who you belong to.