One of the age old problems with mankind and salvation is the rejection of the formula. Many so-called Christians or those who claim Christianity invariably are using a false equation. I call it the “what about me equation”, as it attempts to inject oneself into the formula by which there is no place for you.

Our natural prideful self of which we are all ingrained with, is a quid-pro-quo when it comes to awards, rewards, love, how we deal with others, etc. It says if you are given a gift, it has to be because you somehow earned it. That the gift was given because after all you deserved it. This equation runs counter in every way to the biblical equation on salvation!
We naturally attach conditions all the time to the grace we give others, whereas God never attached a single condition to His grace. If He did? No one could be saved, as no one would could meet that standard of His conditions. Furthermore by this? It would say that before Jesus could die for a single sin, every sinner He intended to save would need to meet God’s condition, and in reality, He’d be waiting for an eternity because it would never happen!

The grace of salvation is always unearned. God saves the ungodly, never the one who believes they worked for the grace, or it would negate grace and be deemed work. It runs counter-balance to everything we naturally believe. The equation is always 0 percent the individual’s work, and 100 percent the work of Jesus Christ. Pretty amazing grace, don’t you think?

In Galatians 5, the Jewish converts had tried the “what about me equation”, and attempted to import circumcision into the salvation equation. Paul rebuked them sternly saying if they did this, they “fell away from grace” and that “Jesus would BE OF NO USE” to them. Their thinking was, “we can’t just let Jesus do it all, we need to help or do at least something”, which again is the natural thought process because then we could receive some sort of credit or “atta boy” for our salvation.

Paul also taught to the Ephesians in Chapter 2:8-9 that salvation was by grace THROUGH faith, not of yourself, not of works, so that no one could boast. Seems pretty straight forward, but many overlook the “no one can boast” because that is the key to it all. If just 1 percent of your works were used, you would look to yourself and whether you openly boast or keep it to yourself, you are indeed boasting in that 1 percent. Rather if the equation is 0 percent you, there is indeed NOTHING you could think of to boast in other than the 100 percent of Jesus and what He did on your behalf!

Salvation is never “what about me”, is is always “what about Jesus and what He did!”. You didn’t believe, you didn’t save yourself, you didn’t do a thing other than displaying the sins Jesus died for, and guess what, He saved you! The unbeliever won’t grasp this, they’ll rail against it, they’ll fight against this notion until their dying breath without a rebirth from God. And like those in Matthew 7:21-23, they’ll attempt the “what about me Lord” equation with God, and Jesus will say “I NEVER KNEW YOU!”.