Every single good thing about who we are, what we do or what we have is the result of God’s grace. It is all undeserved and unmerited. Yes… We may live wisely. We may be highly motivated. We may work hard. But none of this originates with us because God freely supplied the ability, opportunity, voracity and community to make all these things possible. He’s been working on our behalf our entire lives! This is good news because we do not have the fear, frustration, or futility that comes from depending on ourselves when we depend on Him. Rest in this today: Grace has gotten us this far; grace will get us all the way home.
Nothing Is Free
Nothing is free. When a gift is received, someone had to first secure it. Someone had to cover the cost. Someone had to pay. You and I are grace recipients who are gifted divine blessings. These are… Gifts, not wages. Free to us, not earned by us. Heaven-sent, not earth-generated. But let’s never, no never, lose sight of this truth: they came at a staggeringly high cost. Someone had to pay, and that Someone was Jesus. Except for what He did on the cross, sinners like you and me would get nothing but judgment. Instead, we get every good thing God has purposed for us. We get it all because Jesus paid for it all.
Grace is…
Grace is the forgiveness, freedom and favor of God given freely to us. It is forgiveness… God is just and cannot simply ignore our sin; He is also the Justifier Who sent Jesus to be punished in our place in order to pardon us. It is freedom… Sin’s controlling, enslaving influence in us has been broken, and we are empowered not to sin as we live by God’s indwelling Spirit. It is favor … Every good thing in our lives is a gift from heaven that would not be ours apart from Him. This grace is unlimited and unending, so even as we stumble in our faith, there will always be… More forgiveness. More freedom. More favor.
A Story Of Grace
The biblical story is about a God of grace sending His Son to people in need of grace to rescue them from sin by grace so we can be welcomed into His family to live by grace and serve as ambassadors who tell others about His grace so they might also experience His grace. This beautiful narrative is one in which God repeatedly reaches down to and out for an undeserving people who repeatedly push against and away from Him. Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more! Trust in Jesus and know this: Your chapter in the story is unfolding, and its end has already been written. God’s love and favor are yours now and forevermore.
Nothing And Everything
Nothing and everything. If you don’t understand both of these aspects of grace, you don’t understand grace. As sinful people, we can do nothing to meet God’s standards, avoid God’s wrath, deserve God’s blessing, earn God’s forgiveness, or enter God’s heaven. But God did everything by sending Jesus to forgive us, free us and favor us so we can enjoy a rich and restored relationship with Him forever. We don’t buy from, bargain with or bribe God for what He does for us; we receive it freely by faith. This is the reality of grace: God doesn’t help those who help themselves. He helps those who cannot help themselves.
There Is Grace For You
NOTE: Starting tomorrow (if all goes as planned), I’m going to share 31 daily devotions about GRACE during the month of August. What it is, what it means for us, and how we can experience it in the everyday stuff of life. Today’s devo is a prequel to the new series and is a re-post from a few weeks ago…
No matter who you are. No matter what you’ve done. No matter how big your need. There is grace for you! God’s grace is sufficient for every situation, every location, every imperfection, and every opposition. It. Will. Never. Run. Out. Even though there are moments when your sin, your struggles and your situation may get the best of you, if you are trusting in Jesus, it is simply impossible for you to out-sin, out-run, out-last, out-need, or out-hope God’s grace. You will never find yourself in a place where God has not already plastered, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Do You Know What I Do?
Do you know what I do when I don’t know what to do? I pray. Do you know what I do when I need strength to do what I have been led to do? I pray. Do you know what I do when I experience difficult people or problems as I’m doing what I’m supposed to do? I pray. Do you know what I do when I grow weary doing the right things? I pray. Do you what I do when I get distracted by temptations to do wrong things? I pray. Do you know what I do when things don’t work out how I thought they would as I’m doing what I should? I pray. Do you know what I do when I have done what I was given to do? I pray. God’s answers to prayer include wisdom, strength, help, endurance, freedom, hope and thanksgiving. Prayer changes things; and it begins by changing us.
Benevolent King Jesus … He’s Way Bette …
Jesus is our Savior and our Lord. Jesus blesses us and commands us. Jesus wants us to be happy and holy. Jesus shows us compassion and correction. Jesus leads us to pleasant spaces and hard places. Jesus loves sinners and hates sin. Genuine, growing Christians take Jesus for Who He is and not Who others try to make Him out to be. Jesus is not a loving, gracious Friend and Enabler Who is there to help us live in whatever way we choose. He is the One Who gives us strength to do all the wonderful, beautiful, purposeful things He Himself has planned for us. Butler Jesus does not exist; Benevolent King Jesus does. And He’s way better.
Grace Always Wins In The End
God loves us, but He doesn’t approve of everything we think, say and do. God took our sin seriously enough to put His Son Jesus to death in our place; we should take our sin seriously by fighting against it instead of trivializing it, rationalizing it or fraternizing with it. Let us feel godly sorrow for our sin, but may that conviction give way to celebration of the forgiveness and freedom that is ours because of Jesus. Grace means there is pardon for our sin and power not to sin. We fight against it, we fail in the battle, we fall into mercy, we fight on, we finish. For those who are trusting in Jesus… Grace always wins in the end.
God Does Care
Satan is a liar. And there is one lie he both whispers and shouts that is the fountainhead from which ten thousand other lies spring forth: God. Doesn’t. Care. He wants you to believe… God doesn’t care about your sin, your struggles, your service or your sorrows. Mainly, the enemy wants you to believe that God doesn’t care about your life. But Satan is the one who doesn’t care about you! God showed His care by sending Jesus to defeat sin, turn struggles around for good, make service meaningful and replace sorrows with rejoicing. All around you are shouts and whispers from God proclaiming one wellspring of truth: “I care.”
It May Be Too Much For You To Handle
God is able to carry the heaviest burden you will ever face and carry you to the other side by His grace. There is no weapon too powerful. There is no mountain too big. There is no task too great. There is no situation too hopeless. There is no adversary too insurmountable. Not. For. Him. Whatever you are struggling with… God will get you over it, under it, around it, through it, or away from it some way until the day comes when every obstacle has been permanently removed. Rest in this today as you trust the day to God: It may be too much for you to handle, but it’s never too much for Him.
God Is Doing Much More
For those who are trusting in Jesus, God is always doing much more in us, for us, around us, and through us than we are aware of. All we see is the show, but He is working behind the scenes. We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows. And when we can’t see it with our eyes, let us believe it in our hearts. That’s what faith is for.
Who Can We Believe?
It is hard to know who is telling us the whole truth, withholding the truth, distorting the truth, misinterpreting the truth, or creating their own version of the truth. We can easily be deceived into thinking something is true when it is not. So, who can we count on to be honest with us with what we need to hear? What is the standard by which we can evaluate all other guiding life principles and philosophies? What truth can we live by so we do not live in vain or error? Who can we believe? Jesus. Jesus is Who we can believe. We can always count on what He says to be true for us and good for us.
He’s Happy With His Choice
God didn’t reluctantly choose you because there was an empty space in His family tree, and He was down to His last option in you. He readily chose you because that spot in His family was reserved especially for you. He doesn’t regret it for a moment, even in those moments when you feel like He does because you have fallen short and failed Him. Because of the moment you put your faith in Jesus… He delights in you. He rejoices over you. He is pleased with you. Whether you stand by His grace and get it right, or fall into His mercy when you get it wrong, you were chosen by God to be with God. And He’s happy with His choice.
A Desire To Be Different
An evidence that you are a genuine, growing Christian is that you want to be freed from your sin, not just forgiven of it. It’s not just escape from the penalty and consequences of sin that you desire, but escape from the power and control of sin as well. Those who love Jesus will inevitably and increasingly hate their sin. We are not perfect, but we want to be. We will fail, but we wish we wouldn’t. We like some wrong things, but we long for change. Jesus will soon fully deliver us from the brokenness, but until then, let us pray for Him to progressively replace our taste for sin with new appetites for the better things He has for us.
The Fountain Of Grace We Are Drinking From
When we remember and rejoice in Jesus’ removal of our own condemnation, we will stop condemning the people around us. For those of us who have received His priceless gift of salvation, there is no condemnation for our sins, though we were rightly deserving of that condemnation. By the lavish grace of God, we are pardoned. Guilty, yet set free. Flawed, yet forgiven. Outsiders, yet welcomed in. Enemies, yet made family. Deserving of hell, yet shown mercy. Wages of death earned, yet eternal life freely given. Instead of condemning others, let us point them to the fountain of grace that we ourselves are drinking from.
If We’re Going To Say Something About Someon …
Here’s the ironic truth about gossip: it says more about the one doing the talking than the one being talked about. Gossip reveals a heart that finds more pleasure in the transfer of information than in the transformation of an individual. It is the opposite of the gospel for it is indifferent to its harmful effect on others, or it is intent on that harmful effect. Rather than pointing out the bad news about others, we should use our words to point to the good news of our Savior. Today, let us fill our minds and our mouths with things that repeat His story. If we’re going to say something about someone else, may it be about Jesus.
Slow Down And Suit Up
God does not send us ill-equipped into battle against the enemy of our soul. Instead, He dresses us in His own armor. In order for us to fight the good fight of faith, we must put on that armor of God … ahead of time, in advance of the skirmish. We put ourselves and others at extreme risk if we wait until the battle begins to ready ourselves for war against sin and evil. The enemy does not allow us to call timeout or grant us a recess to gather our ammunition and put up our shield. This is why we should arm ourselves with a daily dose of God’s instructions, truths, and promises found in God’s Word. Slow down and suit up.
It’s Okay Not To Be Okay
It’s okay to not be okay. It’s not okay to stay that way. Especially when God has equipped the church to take care of one another as we depend upon Him to graciously provide what we need in our time of need. He calls, gifts, empowers, mobilizes, and sends the church of Jesus to be His hands, feet, and mouth to people inside and outside the family of God. Therefore, the smartest thing you can do when you find yourself feeling overpowered, overwhelmed or overloaded is to ask for help. If it’s more than you can handle alone, that’s God’s way of saying He doesn’t want you to handle it alone.
Christians Aren’t Exempt From Suffering
Christians aren’t exempt from hurt. No matter what precautions we take to safeguard our lives or how hard we work at being godly people, something will inevitably come uninvited, unannounced, and unwanted into our lives and cause us pain. Yet… Healing will come. Comfort will come. Justice will come. Restoration will come. Deliverance will come.Joy will come. Salvation will come. Eternal life will come. This is all true because Jesus has come. Take heart in this: He has come to join us in our suffering; indeed to suffer in our place on the cross so that one day we can enter into a place where there is no suffering at all.
