“We have been made holy by the sacrifice of . . Jesus once for all.” Hebrews 10:10 NIV
“The one condition of grace is that you put your total faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.”
My thoughts today are that “grace is amazing.”
Holy! How often do you really feel holy, truly holy? People assume being holy is only possible for people who behave perfectly, who always do right, never do wrong? And exactly who is capable of that? Not me! And not you. Attempting to earn your relationship with God by your flawless performance, or even to maintain a holiness that has been granted good works not the wondrous Gospel of God’s grace.
Legalism makes one person’s, or one group’s, opinion your obligation of what you should do, or burden of what you must do, or boundary on what you can’t do. Legalism proposes that if you dress right, speak right, and live right, you will be right in God’s eyes. Maybe that could be true, if doing so were possible for you, or any one of us, to actually do. Legalism’s only result is to produce either fear that you have not done enough, or pride to think that you have.
The opposite of legalism is grace, theologically described as “the unmerited favor of God.” Grace is talked about much more often than it is trusted or understood. Simply stated, grace is God giving you His favor because of all Jesus did for you and me in His sacrificial death on a cross, not because of anything that you have done or ever could do. Nothing you are and no amount of good that you do would ever merit such unimagined favor.
Why? Why would God do that for any of us, let alone all of us? The Bible is best to answer the question: “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that that . . He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV. Why? Because of God’s great love, rich mercy, and incomparable grace as demonstrated in Jesus’ death and resurrection! No wonder they call grace amazing!
The one condition is this: putting your total faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Read today’s verse again, “By (God’s) will, you have been made holy by the sacrifice of . . Jesus once for all” Hebrews 10:10 NIV. You cannot make yourself holy; you are made holy by God. Well, wouldn’t a person take advantage of that by living any way they want? Not if they truly understand grace. “You are not under the Law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14 NIV. “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not!” Romans 6:1-2 NLT.
Rather than the do’s and don’ts of rules and regulations that try to force you to do what’s right, but always fail – a true understanding of grace empowers you to do what’s just and pleasing to God because in Christ you can, not because in yourself you could. Grace does not make you free to do as you please; grace makes you free, finally, to do as God pleases!
Being truly forgiven and made holy, you are now free to live in the power of God’s forgiveness and grace, as you should. “Where sin did increase, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:20-21 NIV.
My prayer for you today is that you live confidently in grace, abundant and amazing.