Grace
Let’s hear it for Grace!
Let’s hear it for the getting-what-you-don’t-deserve phenomenon called grace–that unearned favor. Grace, that incredible blessing of salvation. Grace that becomes even more amazing when we come to the realization that we all just backed into this thing–none of us deserving of it. The only thing we did was be at the right place at the right time… or should I say the wrong place at the right time.
We just showed up in this world in need of salvation and that’s what qualified us to receive it. It’s amazing to think about that the perfect time and the perfect place was that we were lost in our sins. Scripture says that at the perfect time, while we were yet sinners he died for us. It wasn’t because we were perfect and good or on track. It was the perfect time because we were lost in sin and needed salvation.
Let’s hear it for grace. Unmerited favor. The awesome opportunity to experience something greater than we could ever deserve. Imagine being hungry and walking by the most prestigious restaurant and not even knowing it was there. And then to your surprise some one comes out to invite you in but not just anyone, it’s the owner. He offers you a meal. You feel undeserving and under dressed, yet he insists. As you come in, he offers you something fine to wear, and it’s just your size. He personally ushers you in the VIP seating area at his personal table offers you the best meal in the house but he’s not done yet. He invites you into the back to meet the chef. Then as if that wasn’t enough the owner pulls you aside and tells you that he wants to partner with you forever and proceeds to offer you partial ownership. All because he wanted you to be a part of what he was doing. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Yet you don’t deserve it. None of us deserve it and that’s the beauty of it. We can celebrate the fact that we don’t deserve it. There is nothing you can do. There is nothing I can do that makes us worthy of his grace. That’s what the song is about:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I am found was blind but now I see.
What an amazing experience we have entered into. We find ourselves realizing all the more there is even more to this than we even understand. Many of us accepted Christ. We made a decision and we said yes to salvation. Yet the beauty of salvation is that the work is on-going. Salvation is ongoing. It’s not a one and done deal. It is a ongoing, life changing experience where God continues to save us daily from ourselves–from our broken thinking, from our weaknesses and our failures. Yes, he invites us to come further up and further in, even though we don’t deserve it. That’s a good thing.
So consider grace today. Celebrate it. Walk in it. Be strong in it. Rest in the knowledge that you don’t deserve anything and yet God is offering you everything. That is what makes it so good. That’s what makes it amazing.
