Notice it is by the grace of God, the unmerited, the undeserved favor of God, and his kindness that we are saved. But what does it mean to be saved? Salvation has the idea of being rescued from the power and penalty of our sin. The text tells us here, that it is through faith in Christ and it is not of ourselves, it is God's gift to us. Notice verse 9 tells us that this deliverance from the power and penalty of our sin is not something we work for, but is God's gift to us through our faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior, the deliverer, the rescuer of our sin and its penalty.

Why did Jesus save us? Ephesians 2 verse 10 tells us of the plan of his salvation.
Verse 10 tells us we are his workmanship or as the NIV states, his handiwork or his new creation. And what did he create us to do? It's hard to believe, but God created us as a believer in Jesus Christ to do good works. The NIV translation states we were "created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

It's true that we are not saved by our works. God's gift to us is deliverance from the power and penalty of our sin through the sacrifice or atoning work of Jesus Christ. But it's also true that He created us in Christ to do good works that He ordained that we should walk in or live doing.

In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 21 it states,
If a man purges himself, that is he turns from his sin, God will use him as a vessel of honor, sanctified and set apart for God's use. And notice what God wants to do with him. The King James version says he will be meet for the master's use. That means he will be useful for the Master (which is God) to use, and prepared to do every good work. God wants to prepare the believer to walk in good works in its many various forms. In 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10 it states,
Notice that every man has received a gift, a spiritual gift from God. To do what with? To minister that gift to others. To be a good steward of the manifold grace of God. That means that God's grace has come in various ways and serves people in various ways.
If God has given someone a gift of speaking, then he should speak the very oracles or words of God. If God has given a gift to minister or serve others, he should do it with the ability that God has given him, with the whole goal that God in all things, would be glorified through Jesus Christ.

So the works that we do that God has ordained that we do, are being done through the ability that God has given. The whole goal is to bring glory to the Father in heaven.

So I encourage you today to:
If we ignore the good works that God has ordained that we should walk in, we have missed one of the biggest purposes of Christianity. Jesus said we will be known by our love, not by our theological creeds or persuasions. So it is not circumcision or uncircumcision that matters, but a faith that works by love.