Many of us have heard the saying “give credit where credit is due.” It makes sense. If you do something great, then you want to get credit for it.

So what about faith? Should we get credit for having more faith, because we deserve it? In today’s passage Paul is talking a lot about being credited. What he says last in the passage is the most shocking. We are credited because of what Jesus does for us. Jesus was handed over because we didn’t do what we were supposed to do. Yet by Jesus’ resurrection, we get credited as righteous. We are saved because of his response to our failing.

You may have heard that grace is received and not deserved. It may seem strange. You may say, “but I’m pretty good… I probably deserve it.” What we are talking about though is this credit. We didn’t earn it. Jesus did. And he gave it to us. His suffering, then, is linked to our faith.

By Stephen Mazingo from D365