“…and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24
Amazing Grace is one of my favorite hymns – and certainly one of the most well-known hymns of all time. Here are some of its beautiful words:
Amazing
grace—how sweet the sound—
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
I used to operate under the false narrative that I had to somehow EARN God’s favor. If I did something that I felt was wrong or I wasn’t focused on my relationship with Him, I was afraid that He would do something bad in my life to get my attention. I really fretted over this and felt like I needed to get my act together or it would be hell to pay – oops, maybe inappropriate play on words. But you get my drift. Sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? We are human and will always screw up. We will never be good enough or do good enough to EARN God’s favor.
My mindset was mired in legalism which promotes the earning and keeping of God’s love based upon what you do or do not do. It’s not surprising that we feel compelled to earn salvation on the basis of works as acceptance in this world is basically performance based. After all, getting salvation through grace is too good to be true, isn’t it?
“For by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
What exactly is
grace? There are many definitions of grace but one that I especially like is,
“the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.” Grace
is essentially undeserved favor; it is God’s blessing on
the unworthy.
There is an
acronym that is sometimes used for grace which I thought was pretty cool:
God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense
The Bible says that we are saved by grace. This grace is expressed by God’s forgiveness of our sins, His blessings in this life, and the promise of unencumbered fellowship with Him for eternity. Wow, the gift of grace really is amazing!
So we cannot work our way to heaven by our good works – but we should have good works, shouldn’t we? if Jesus is in our hearts, we will be compelled to do good works and help others.
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.
To conclude, here are a few more scriptures tell us more about God’s amazing grace.
“From the fullness of His grace we have all receive one blessing after another.” John 1:16
“to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves.” Ephesians 1:6
REFLECT
Take a few moments to reflect on the gift of grace that God has given us. Isn’t it amazing?
