Devotion for Today

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God's Unmerited Favor

August 11, 2013

For by grace are ye saved . . .
–Ephesians 2:8

“Grace,” according to the dictionary, is the unmerited favor of God toward mankind. The word “grace” is used over 170 times in the New Testament alone. Grace is not bought. It is a free gift of almighty God to needy mankind. When I picture Jesus Christ dying on the cross, I see the free gift of God’s grace in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. I sing with the songwriter, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Your human mind, with its philosophy of an equal return for favors done, can hardly comprehend the full meaning of this grace of God. But when you catch, by the inspiration of God, its full meaning, you will leave the limits of human reasoning and revel in the spiritual riches of divine truth and privilege.

Yes, the grace of God is a reality. Thousands have tried, tested, and proved that it is more than a cold creed, a docile doctrine, or a tedious theory. The grace of God has been tested in the crucible of human experience, and has been found to be more than an equal for the problems and sins of humanity.

Prayer for the day

Lord, this day help me to come to a more full and abundant awareness of Your bountiful grace. Stimulate me to serve You.

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9 Comments

William says 8.8.2012, 07:01 a.m.

Amen

Cheryl says 8.16.2011, 12:58 a.m.

God's grace is where I find comfort and peace. When I start to question why there is so much pain and suffering in the world, I remember His grace is sufficient for me. As Billy's sister explained so eloquently in her article about losing her son when he was 21 yrs of age, the pain will never completely go away. Yet, we learn to live with the pain inside God's grace. Inside God's grace is where I always want to be.

Mark says 8.11.2011, 8:26 p.m.

I can remember well in the summer of 1986 I spent one afternoon praying that God would help me understand the meaning of the term grace. At that time my church was very legalistic. The focus of my relationship to God at that time in my life was through the "Law". In the early 1990's the Lord began to transform our church. I can remember coming to understand that Jesus loves me in 1995. It is wonderful to come to understand that in Jesus we are loved, accepted and adopted as the precious children of the Father. We are lavished with the love of Jesus Christ and His forgiveness. This is what grace is all about--being lavished with the love of God. Accept Him into your life. His grace is wonderful grace. His life is a wonderful Life.

Laura says 8.11.2011, 4:05 p.m.

I guess to fully understand grace you have to reach the end of yourself. When you're on the outer fringe of life and you've tried all you know how to try all to no avail, you look over your shoulder and sense Jesus Christ standing there with open arms ready to welcome you back home and you realize He has been there a mighty long time. Then and only then can you begin to understand God's amazing grace.

Janice says 8.11.2011, 11:54 a.m.

Thank you for preaching grace. My experience has been that few pastors teach grace as it is defined by scripture. Grace plus law is presented though somewhat subtly, probably I think, because we fear grace will be abused or confused with lasciviousness or license to sin. Yet when we truly understand grace just the opposite is true. We don't want to sin. Instead we will be like the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, we who have sinned much will love much. We love Him because He first loved us.

Rich says 8.11.2011, 09:16 a.m.

Please Lord bless this day and watch over me

Faith says 8.11.2011, 09:15 a.m.

All my life I have gone to church and heard of God’s grace but it was not until a couple of months ago that I really understood what an amazing gift it is. The past ten years of my life have been one heartache and loss after the other. Over the past year I found myself trying to make it through life on my own without God. Needless to say, I made a mess of my life. I have sense turned back to God and repented of my sins and with his amazing grace he forgave me and embraced me in his loving arms. I never want to leave the arms of God again.

Gerry says 8.11.2011, 07:55 a.m.

God's Incredible Grace is very contrary to the world's way of thinking . It tends to think that one good turn deserves another. If someone refuses to help us and acts selfishly, constantly, a natural reaction would be not to want to help them. Even, believers can behave this way at times but God still showers us with his unmerited Grace. The greatest example, was God Almighty giving his Holy Son (King for all Kings)to die for us. Thank you Lord for your Amazing Grace.

mick says 8.10.2011, 12:20 a.m.

Grace is so difficult for us to understand, because we somehow feel that we control destiny