By Christopher Dryden
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Romans 11:6 ESV
The situation is dire. There is nothing you can do about it. It appears your fate is sealed. Observers admit you had it coming. You might as well accept it. Yet with all that going against you, here comes grace to swoop in for the rescue. Paul is clear – this is a part of a glorious package. God is rich in mercy. God is big on love. There’s an eternal purpose at work that is expressed in all this. Grace is a part of the package, for it is grace that comes in for the rescue.
Rescuing us from what we deserved. Perhaps we don’t appreciate what we deserve. Maybe we downplay it to focus on other things. Perhaps we genuinely have not truly encountered the desperate situation we faced. This is why it’s helpful to have it presented to us in the Word. By nature, we deserved the wrath of God. What many consider to be a rough situation in life today still doesn’t measure to what we deserve because of our spiritual condition. For God to see that and still choose to save us by grace should give us pause for great sober reflection.
Rescuing us to what we do not deserve. People aspire to much in life – wealth, security, power and popularity. Understandable pursuits and yet in the light of the wonder of who God is and what He reveals to be His plans these pursuits are not even minor trinkets. Beholding the beauty and glory of the Creator of the Universe and being called into His wonderful family to enjoy Him forever. To have a foretaste of that in this life doing His will as a precursor to eternity in an earth made new with Jesus. That goes far beyond hitting a jackpot. That cannot be expressed with justice whatever analogies we wish to give because the reality is so much more glorious. And to discover that this is available to us due to the grace that came into the rescue should give us reason for praise and great celebration.
Rescuing us so we know that it wasn’t us. Crucial in this sober reflection and great celebration is appreciating that there is absolutely nothing we’ve done to be rescued. Our invitation is to believe it. Believe in God who has saved us by grace. There’s no room for us to take any credit at all. There’s no room for us to pat ourselves on the back as if we had anything at all to do with it. We can’t boast in anything other than the one who saves us by His grace. It’s a humbling and awe-inspiring reality to take in the truth that what saves us expresses the character of the one we can place total reliance on. If we recognise we need to be saved, let’s express gratitude for the grace that saves.
Ask: How do you understand what Paul is saying in stating that grace saves us?
Seek: How does being saved by grace affect your relationship with God through Jesus Christ?
Knock: We have no reason to boast in ourselves. We deserved something so different to what we’ve received. Offer a prayer of thanks for the grace that saves and commit to sharing this good news with at least one other person this week.
(Upper Photo by Scott Evans on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by Kunj Parekh on Unsplash)
