Salvation By Grace Through Faith

[deacon blues]

I'm thankful for God's grace. I'm thankful I didn't have to jump through hoops to earn the privilege to be saved. I'm thankful I don't have to live with fear that I'm constantly on thin ice, with my salvation so fragile and so tenuous that I have to tip toe on eggshells worried about the rejection of God. I'm thankful that God loves me simply because He chooses to.

I am a piece of work. I am defective. I have plenty of flaws, cracks, fissures, deficiencies, glitches, and weaknesses in my life. Yet He keeps loving me. He doesn't give up on me. He doesn't throw up His hands and declares that I'm a hopeless cause. I'm thankful He doesn't nit pick my life, obsessing over what my hair looks like, what my clothes look like, that I watch sports, or see a movie, or have a beard. I'm thankful He isn't my Divine Bookkeeper, my spiritual CPA, writing everything down, keeping a record of wrongs. I'm thankful that He is holy, and in His eyes I am holy because I am filled with His Holy Spirit. I'm thankful He is righteous, and in His eyes I'm righteous because Jesus Christ is righteous and when I believed, God imputed the righteousness of Jesus to me. He credited me His righteousness. I'm thankful He's perfect and in His eyes I'm perfect.

God's grace is not my excuse to live anyway I want. I want to change, I want to live better, I want to say no to temptation BECAUSE of His grace. I love Him because He first loved me. I am far from what I want to be. But I'm not what I used to be.

I think about Him day and night. I wake up at 4AM and a gospel song is on my mind. I have a mental image of Jesus on the cross that God gave me a few years ago when I was at a very low moment and a very sad time. Sometimes when I'm distressed, when I'm anxious, when things get chaotic I close my eyes and visualize that picture of God's love for me. His Word is a part of my daily life, whether my scripture of the day from Biblegateway.com, teaching and preaching 4 times a week or more, listening to preaching on the radio, or engaging in a daily devotional. I talk to Him while I shower to begin my day. I talk to Him sitting in a parking lot in my car because I'm 15 minutes early for an appointment. I talk to Him over the phone with a man who has called me for counsel to ask for wisdom and direction for my friend. I talk to Him with my kids as I put them to bed. Day or night, His grace is a common thread interwoven throughout my existence.

He didn't have to love me. He didn't have to give His only begotten Son that I might believe on Him and have everlasting life. He didn't have to right what was wrong in my life. He didn't have to make crooked paths straight. He didn't have to restore what had been stolen. He didn't have to give me a second chance. He didn't have to give me the multiple chances He has given me over my lifetime.

I don't know why He loves me. I don't deserve it. I deserve harsh judgment, punishment, and destruction. Instead He loves me. He makes a way for me. He offers me a free gift---salvation. He offers it with no strings attached, no conditions, no addendums, no fine print, no disclaimers. He gives it to me freely. All I have to do is believe. As preposterous as that sounds---that's it. It's that easy because He did the hard part. Being betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, brutalized, beaten, spat upon, tortured, mocked, crucified, and taking on the sins of all humanity was the hard part. He simply calls me to believe on Him, to receive Him. It sounds too good to be true. But it's true. We can become sons of God, children of God, simply by calling on the name of the Lord.

I have peace in my soul. I am not insecure. I am loved by God. I am forgiven. I am accepted. I belong. I am a son of God. I am His and He is mine.

I am thankful for salvation by grace through faith.