God's Grace

Matthew 6 contains a portion of the sermon on the Mount where Jesus is talking about not being anxious. He explains that He provides for the birds of the field and that we are more valuable than them. The argument is from the less valuable to the more valuable. If God provides for these birds, can we not trust Him to provide for us? The implied answer is, "Of course we can!" As I was reading in my quiet time guide this morning, the words of Charles Stanley encouraged my heart. Referring to Ephesians 1:7, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Charles Stanley commented,

When God bought your salvation, He spared no expense. He provided the costly blood of Christ to purchase your eternal life. Why is it, then, that some believers spend their lives trying to earn what God has already paid for?"
Abraham Lincoln surmised that it is because believers fail to recall God's great grace. Lincoln wrote, "We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
If believers imagine they have earned salvation through virtue, then when virtue is lacking, they believe they have lost the blessing. However, salvation was never based on human acts of piety. Salvation has its foundation in the sacrificial grace of Christ. His grace covers your sin. It was a great penalty to pay, but Jesus deemed that your salvation was worth the price.
Accept the riches of His grace and invest your life in thankfulness to Him.

Sometimes I tend to forget that God's grace through the provision of His Son as my Savior covers my sin. I want to do something myself to make a contribution to my salvation. In doing so I undermine and devalue the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus. Again I am reminded that the expected response that God wants from me is, "Thank You, Lord! I am so glad You valued me and sent Your Son to make total payment for my sin. Thank you, Lord, for Jesus!