It’s all about grace!
“So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” (Romans 11:5)
Who or what is your forgiveness and hope of heaven dependent on?
Are you confident that you are forgiven and that you will be in heaven someday because tucked away somewhere is a baptismal certificate with your name on it? Certainly your Baptism plays a large part in you receiving forgiveness and going to heaven, but there is more.
Does your hope of forgiveness and heaven rest on who you are and what you do? Do you see yourself as “a better person than most people” and that is your hope, that your “goodness” will get you high enough on the ladder that God will accept you? I sure hope not!
I would ask you to reread our Bible verse above for this week and focus on the last 3 words “chosen by grace.”
The word “chosen” tells us that receiving forgiveness and heaven is not something that we initiated, but rather someone else chose us – picked us – selected us – to receive forgiveness and heaven.
The key word in this verse and the key word in our faith life is the word “grace.” Some people have come up with catchy phrases to describe or help us understand grace. One that I have seen fairly often is this one: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. That phrase helps us understand that grace is God giving us something through Jesus Christ. Maybe you’ve heard grace described as “God’s undeserved love for sinners.” That explanation reminds us that receiving God’s love is something which we don’t deserve.
We could use all sorts of acronyms or phrases, but what we all need to know and can take great comfort in is this: Thank God that our forgiveness and hope of heaven does not depend on us at all. It is 100 percent guaranteed to everyone who believes in Jesus as their Savior because Jesus did it all with his perfect life. He paid for our sins with his death on the cross and the put the exclamation point at the end when he rose from the dead on Easter morning.
Don’t let the devil keep you up at night with what you have done or haven’t done, Jesus covered it all with his grace! Don’t let your conscience haunt you with thoughts that you are not worthy because of the life you’ve lived. Jesus lived the perfect life which none of us can and put his perfect life over the top of our ugly, sin-stained life and all God sees is perfection. Don’t think that like so many other things, you have to contribute in some way – forgiveness and heaven are God’s free, totally 100 percent free gifts, to you because Jesus did it all.
Grace is a word which is often misunderstood or confused. Please don’t let it be a word or thought which is difficult in any way. Please let it be the most comforting word you have ever heard. It is and always will be the greatest assurance you have (and can share with anyone who doesn’t know it) that God loves you, no matter what and forgives you and is preparing a place for you in heaven.
Thank God that it’s all about grace and let that word give you all the comfort you need! Forgiveness and heaven are guaranteed by grace!