"Reason"

 "For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God." (Hebrews 3:4 KJV)

  "The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses' face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which make us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!" (2 Corinthians 3:7-11 NLT)

 One of the first things I learned, in this new life in Christ, is that we must learn to put all of our hope in the salvation which we have been given. It wasn't but a few days after I was saved, that I had fallen into something which made me feel ashamed; it was as if I had done the thing Proverbs 26:11 says: "As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." 

 The main thing we must keep in mind, is that we are totally and completely dependent upon Christ and the wonder-working-power of the cross! It is only by His blood that we are made holy; trying to be holy by keeping the law, is a lot like trying to build something which has already been built! He has made the way, which was actually planned, and the foundation was laid, from the very beginning. 

 As a matter of fact, the law was not given for us to try and keep but was given to show us how far we are from keeping God's standards! Hopefully we have gotten the message by now, because the glorious part of this new life we have in Christ, is that He made it happen, not us...

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)