something I thought I'd jot down

The Bible tells us that salvation is by grace through faith, and we hear it all the time, right?? We can't work our way to heaven. God is not impressed. I love the story I heard Adrian Rogers tell about a poor woman who set out to buy some food for her starving family. I don't know the whole story, but the woman ended up at a rich person's property where there was an abundance of grapes. She wanted the grapes and asked about them. The wealthy man said, "You can have them as a gift. Take them to your family, as many as you want." The woman couldn't just take them... she wanted to pay the man for the grapes. The man said, "Well, if you must pay for them, you can't have them, for they are too expensive for you to buy. You will never be able to afford those grapes. But, I would like to give them to you for free." That, my friend, is the Kingdom of God. God offers us the grapes of salvation, but we can never pay him for it. We must take it as a gift, which takes humility and repentance.