Grateful for Grace

Grateful for Grace

grateful for graceThe longer I live, the more grateful I am for grace. Because the older I am, the better I know myself. And that picture is not pretty.

I am hopeless at making myself better.
I am clueless to make anything happen.
I am powerless to help myself.

That’s why I am so thankful for Christ who doesn’t wait for me to get my act together.

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (Romans 5:6-8, MSG,*)

Because Christ died for ungodly sinners, I have hope. And so do you and everyone else on this planet. Christ died for all of our sins once and for all.

Yeah, we are hopeless at making ourselves presentable to God.
We are clueless to better ourselves.
We are powerless to help ourselves.

But Christ arrives to make this happen in our lives.

We can’t save ourselves. Only Jesus can. We can’t earn points toward heaven. Only grace can get us there. We can’t help ourselves. Only Christ is able to do so.

But Christ will do so if we let him.

Everything is ready for our salvation. Christ, the son of God, was sacrificed for our sins. And because he was resurrected, we can be risen in him too.

We don’t have to stay hopeless.
We don’t have to stay clueless.
We don’t have to stay powerless.

Instead we can open our heart to Christ and let him make home in us. When Christ lives in us, we are hope-filled and powerful. Not because of us but because of the power of resurrection.

Grace works miracles in us, in you and me. Grace works miracles here and now. And we are invited to live in this amazing grace, experience God every day of our lives.

How do we respond? My response is a big yes. I know myself. I’m utterly hopeless without grace. But with God’s grace, I am becoming what God created me to be. That’s why I am so grateful for grace: no more hopelessness. How about you? Are you ready to surrender your heart to God?

 

Gracious God,
Thank you for your relentless grace.
Thank you for loving us even when we are not lovable.
Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Fill us with your miraculous grace.
Create in us a new heart.
Change us according to your plan for us.
Thy will be done in earth as in heaven.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Have

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you

Image courtesy of Mari-Anna Stålnacke.  Linking up today with Unite the Bloggersphere and #tellhisstory.

3 thoughts on “Grateful for Grace

  1. I’m with you – the older I get, the more grateful I am for His grace. Perhaps because He pours it out so liberally each & every day. Blessings!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RSS
Follow by Email