From Your Director of Missions

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9

GRACE! What a strange and wonderful thing it is. “By GRACE we have been saved”, God shows us “the Immeasurable riches of His GRACE, for by GRACE through faith, we have been saved.” It’s all about that GRACE!

We have acronyms to explain it, “God’s Riches at Christ Expense.” We have phrases to explain it, “God giving us what we don’t deserve”, “God’s unmerited favor.”

But mere words fall too short to explain the actual truth of GRACE.

Let’s just stop here for a few minutes right now and ponder exactly what God has done, and is doing, for us through His GRACE.

I believe the first thing we must do is realize just how diametrically opposed to the world God’s GRACE really is. The world system is a system of merit. If you want a job you have to work. Not only work, but if you want to keep your job you have to work harder and better than others or they might take the job from you. If you want to get a promotion in your job or receive a raise, you have to work hard and do your best. When we do our best, we expect our employer to reward us with more money, more benefits or a higher position. If you want to be friends with someone you have to be nice to them. If you are nice to them, they might be nice to you, but if you treat someone badly, they will not want to be friends with you. Everything about the world system we live in is earned.

But God’s GRACE! Well, that’s an entirely different deal all together. God’s love for us is so great that He pours out His GRACE upon us even though we are wretched and completely unworthy of anything. The idea of working to earn God’s love and mercy can never add up in our favor. There is no way to work harder or do better than others so that God will love me as much or more than He loves them. Just how hard do I have to work to earn God’s love? Where do you draw the line? It’s a never ending struggle! How can you measure it?

Well, you can’t! As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:7, “God shows us “the Immeasurable riches of His GRACE.” He has gifted it to us. Not only did He gift it to us, the price of the gift was the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ!

I guess it’s hard to understand because everything we do, or everything we get in this world we have to earn or work for. But God’s Grace is other worldly. I have a very difficult time getting my head around how He could have sent His Son to die for me. My thoughts and my actions leave so much to be desired.

So, I’m going to stop writing now and start giving thanks to the God of creation for loving me so much that He would draw me to Himself and save my soul so I might live with Him in Heaven for all of eternity.