Our Salvation - God's Idea First

"Baptism reminds us that all of us have been adopted. We call it grace. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people (1 Peter 2:10). Therefore it is never quite right to say things like, "Since I took Jesus into my heart," or "Since I gave my life to Christ." Our relationship to Jesus is his idea before it is ours. We don't take Jesus anywhere. He takes us places" (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life, 27).