In life there are two kinds of earning. One where we work a job, save our money and pay for what we want/need. The other is where we are given what we did not ask for and use our lives to pay our thanks back. Christians often mistakenly focus on the first and think that they must DO something to EARN their salvation, when it is really the second type of earning God wants us focused on.
In the gospel of John we have the following story of Jesus being confronted with a person caught in the act of adultery in John chapter 8:
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
The last few words uttered to this woman may seem harsh to those who don't understand the full context of the problem. Was Jesus telling her to shape up or else next time I might not be here to save you?? Was it Jesus chastising her after everyone else is gone? Was he saying her salvation hinged on her living a good life?
Not at all. It is Jesus who will be paying for those sins in a few days on the cross and he knows there is literally nothing this woman (or any of us for that matter) can do to repay God.
To better understand this let me use the following video clip from the WW2 movie, "Saving Private Ryan". For those who may have not seen this movie, Tom Hanks character is sent with a team of soldiers to find and send home a Private Ryan whose family has lost 3 brothers in other battles and Private Ryan is the sole surviving son. In the end, Tom Hanks character is shot in a battle to protect a bridge from the Nazi's and his dying words to Private Ryan (Matt Daman) are: "EARN THIS!"
The scene cuts to an old Private Ryan standing in a cemetery where his friend is buried
