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There’s only one reason we persevere through trials, troubles and tragedies in this broken world: grace. God gives us the strength, encouragement and provision we need to keep going when the going gets tough. He is always graciously working in us, working behind the scenes for us, and working all things out for the good of us. When He does not give us grace to escape problems, He will give us grace to endure them. We will keep going. We will get to the other side. We will make it through. This is our hope in Jesus… When the time is right, God will bring our hurting to an end and give us happiness without end.

We can be grateful for many things, and we should be. We can be grateful to many people, and we should be. We can be grateful on many occasions, and we should be. But there is One who makes every good thing, every good person and every good occasion in our lives possible by His amazing grace. God sent Jesus to be perfect for us because we aren’t, absorb wrath for sin so we don’t, and secure the blessings for us that we can’t. Jesus paid our sin penalty and paid for our special privileges so that we might be forgiven, freed and favored. Today and every day, let us offer thanks for His giving.

The sweetest of all thankfulness isn’t superficial; it goes deep. It goes past feeling happy that certain things are in our lives. It goes past naming those things so it is known that we appreciate them. It goes past even tracing their origin back to God and thanking the Giver for all of our blessings. There is a delightful, wonderful, beautiful experience when our gratitude is not merely directed toward God for His gifts, but toward God for Himself. We give thanks that among many things, He is a holy, loving, kind and gracious Father. The way to be best thankful for all that God has given us is to be most thankful for Him.

All of God’s gracious actions toward us are designed to lead us toward Him. He means for us to respond to His gifts not by seeking more gifts, but by seeking Jesus … to know, trust, serve, obey, honor, enjoy, worship and love Him as we follow Him. Grace enables and encourages us to take steps with Jesus. When we do, we grow in our relationship with Him as we go with Him wherever He leads to do whatever He says. God woos us with His kindness along the way because He wants us to be together every step in this life until we are with Him forever in the life to come. Grace points the way to be with Jesus.

There are no grace graduates. None of us get to the point where we no longer need God’s provision. We aren’t who we used to be, but our transformation isn’t complete. We’ve been fruitful, but our good work isn’t finished. We’ve come a long way, but our journey home isn’t over. We don’t move on from grace; we move on because of grace! So, let us confidently call on God for help to joyfully live out His plans, live for what matters most, live with our circumstances and live in this world, not as independent people, but as His grace-dependent people. Until the very end… We will not stop needing. God will not stop supplying.

We require it. We request it. We receive it. We rely on it. But let’s be clear about it… Grace isn’t given because we are great, but because God is. The grace of God testifies to the glory of God. When it is received and rightly understood, it results in worship for the One who gives it. It should prompt in us as receivers a celebration of Him and commendation of Him as a generous, powerful, wise, good, rich, holy and loving God. Those who think they merit what they receive have little praise for God; those who know all they have is a gift have much praise for God. Today, as He gives grace to us, let us give glory to Him.

We were made in God’s image to bring glory to Him, but we all sin and fall short of God’s glory which distorts His image in us. Jesus came to display the perfect image of God and glorify Him in ways we did not, and then die in our place to atone for our sin. Then He begins restoring the image of God in us so we can bring Him glory. This is what grace does for us: It takes people who don’t look and act much like God and transforms us into people who do. Undeserving sinners are remade into joy-filled, purpose-driven, difference-making, love-giving image-bearers of our glorious God. We are who we are because of grace.

To receive God’s grace is to be so radically changed that nothing will ever be the same. Not your past, because your sin no longer convicts you. Not your present, because your sin no longer controls you. Not your future, because your sin no longer condemns you. When you trust in Jesus, God graciously remakes everything about who you were, who you are and who you will become. You are given a new identity in Christ, a growing similarity to Christ, and a joy-filled destiny with Christ. Grace. Changes. Everything. You are not defined by who the world says you are; you are defined by who God says you are.

God helps us help one another by giving spiritual gifts of His grace to every person in His family. We don’t earn these spiritual abilities; they are gifts. They aren’t all the same; they come in various forms. We don’t let them gather dust; we use them. They aren’t to be used selfishly; they are to be used to bless others. We don’t use them to bless others so we are praised; we do so that Jesus may receive the glory. So, let us do our part today with the resources we have been entrusted to steward for the good of those around us. One way God shows grace to us is through others; one way God shows grace to others is through us.

Because the need for grace is great, and the supply of grace is even greater, we who have experienced it ourselves should extend it. We want others to come to trust and treasure God like we do, and there is no better way to accomplish this than by a “show and tell” demonstration of what God has done for us in Christ. We show others the same kind of undeserved forgiveness and favor that God pours out on us though acts of kindness. We tell others about the availability of the grace of God that has changed us and can change them as well. Our everyday testimony for God’s grace is treating others like He treats us.