By His Grace

• Have you ever gotten something good that you didn’t deserve?

• How would you explain God’s grace to someone who knows nothing about it?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

Some people use an acronym to help them remember what the word grace means: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. As acronyms go, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

We need grace because our sin separates us from God. We can do nothing to earn God’s forgiveness; only a perfect sacrifice will do. The only perfect sacrifice is Jesus, God’s Son. So even though we’ve done nothing to earn it, God gives us the gift of salvation. That’s grace.

If we’ve received God’s grace and put our faith in Christ to save us, we have three responsibilities. The first is to thank God as often as possible for what he’s done for us. He never gets tired of being praised and worshiped, so we should never get tired of showing him how grateful we are. The second is to lovingly obey God through the help of the Holy Spirit.

Our third responsibility is to make sure other people know about God’s grace. The best strategy is to start with people we know and feel comfortable with. We can practice bringing it up in conversation little by little until we have the confidence to talk about it any place, any time.

PRAYER
Dear God, we praise you for your grace. We know that we do not deserve your love. Thank you for giving us salvation through your Son. Guide our words as we tell others about your grace. Amen.