The Grace of God has been defined as giving us what we do not deserve. We deserve God’s punishment—not His goodness! When I consider my life and my tendency to wander away from God, as well as , my rebellion towards Him…I know that I do not deserve His Grace…none of us do! Yet God chooses to shower us with His goodness and blessings.
The grace of God is manifested to us in a multitude of ways… from the rain that replenishes the dry ground…to the next breath of air that we breathe . These are manifestations of God’s grace and goodness, but the pinnacle mark of God’s grace is seen in the gruesome and bloody death of Christ on the cross. For it was there, in Christ’s suffering, that God justly dealt with our sin and rebellion towards Him. It was there that we have found His love, forgiveness and acceptance. The cross will stand, for all eternity as the declaration of God’s grace to sinful man.
The question is, how could we ever deserve such unmerited favor? The answer is—we can not! The call of God upon us is not to attempt to earn His grace, but to respond appropriately to it….and the only appropriate response to His grace is repentance, worship, and humble obedience. The Apostle reminds us that, “knowing the kindness of God leads us to repentance,” (Rom. 2:4). We are a blessed people and have experienced His kindness. Let’s choose, today, to reflect on God’s unmerited favor towards us…and to respond to it by living lives of repentance, worship, and humble obedience!