Because of Grace

Grace is one of the most beautiful words I have ever known.  It is because of grace that I am saved.  It is because of grace that my sin is gone.  It is because of grace that I can serve the Lord.  Everything I am, all that I have, and all that I shall become is due to the marvelous grace of God.  God’s grace is the reason for it all!

What is grace?  There have been many attempts to explain it and define it, yet grace seems to go beyond any human efforts.  Nevertheless, we know that it involves the unmerited, unearned kindness of God.  It is His favor toward us for no other reason than God.

There have been acronyms developed to help us better understand this beautiful concept.  For example:

G – God’s

R – Riches

A – At

C – Christ’s

E – Expense

Still, grace seems to go beyond our best mental grasps, all the while grasping us in complete and wonderful ways.

Of late, my heart has been encouraged by thoughts of grace.  I hope to encourage you today about God’s marvelous grace!

Because of grace, I do not have to convince and strive for God to forgive me.

Yes, there are many times I do fail God.  I do believe that sin is deadly and its consequences grave.  Quite often, when I pray, I feel as though I must try harder to be more contrite and broken about my sin.  I feel like I must convince God to forgive me.  The simple truth is that God is more willing to forgive me than I am to be forgiven.  He does not forgive me because I beg Him enough or ask in convincing ways.  He forgives me because His grace is simply that great.

Because of grace, my prayers find audience with the LORD.

The Lord is so gracious to not only answer my prayers but to listen to them!  My Lord allows me opportunity to enter into His presence and present my petitions.  That alone is marvelous, yet He also answers prayer!  What a God we serve!  Do I deserve this prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God?  No.  Yet, grace makes the difference!  Go back to God in prayer!

Because of grace, I can sing.

Perhaps my sin and guilt have run very deeply.  Perhaps I have brought great shame to myself and many others.  However, grace erases the past.  Grace makes a way.  Grace grants me, the chiefest of sinners, the privilege and right to sing with confidence and boldness unto my God.  Furthermore, grace is not only my reason to sin, it is my song!  I sing about His amazing grace!  I sing about His love to me!  I sing because He has done great things!  Grace is my reason; grace is my song!

Because of grace, I know He likes me.

Have you ever felt like God just doesn’t like you?  Oh, you know that He loves you, but you just cannot accept that He would like you?  Sometimes those are my thoughts.  Truly, I have given God ample reason to despise me and cast me out of His presence.  Yet, His great grace rises and says that the living God delights to fellowship with His own.  Grace proclaims that God delights to have a wretch like me nearer and nearer to His heart.

Because of grace, my past is gone.

Many times my mind rushes back to sins of my youth.  The Devil reminds me of the crimes I have committed against God.  However, grace has erased those stains from the sight and presence of God.  The regrets of yesterday are no longer chains of today, for grace has set me free!

Because of grace, I know God is at work in my life.

I may not always understand the plan of the Lord, yet I know He is working to make me more like Christ.  Why would God take time for me?  Why would God pass by my way again and again?  Why would God continue to work on me?  It is because of that unmerited favor.  It is because of grace unbounded and unyielding.  It is because His grace is simply that great!

Because of grace, I know where I am going

Grace has not only saved me from sin’s penalty, it is saving me from sin’s power and will save me from sin’s presence.  God’s kindness is the reason that I have a home secured in His glorious Heaven.  I know that I shall someday soar beyond the stars to be with my Jesus.  I am going to the land of no more death, crying, or pain.  I am going to the place where I shall be reunited with dear ones who have gone on before me.  I am going to the city whose builder and maker is God.  My future is as bright as the Lord, for His grace has given a lowly sinner, like me, what no other could!

Thanks be to God for His grace!  Truly, it is amazing!  Julia Johnston said it well when she wrote:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, Threaten the soul with infinite loss; Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe! You that are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive?