Good morning, friends. As I was driving back from Columbia this morning, having had my Nana hat on since the 1st, I was thinking about my personal goal for 2019 that I shared with you last week: Live in His grace. Give His grace. As I thought about the first part of that goal, live in His grace, I found myself asking these questions: What does that mean and what should that look like in my daily life? Grace. A simple yet profound word. While it has a secular meaning, my focus is on the Biblical usage of the word. I came across this definition: “What is grace? In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sending His only Son to descend into hell on the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven. Grace may be defined as the unmerited or undeserving favor of God to those who are under condemnation.” (Paul Enns) That fits with the acrostic I have heard for years: Grace is “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” In God’s sweet providence, as I was thinking about all of this, I was listening to a CD by Chris Tomlin. His wonderful song, God of Calvary, began playing. As I really listened to the words, I thought, that’s it! That is GRACE! These lyrics just gripped my heart:
“By His wounds I am set free. By His blood I’ve been redeemed. The great divide He crossed for me. Oh, praise the God of Calvary.”
“And if I never, never lose sight of this place, I will never, never lose sight of Your grace. The cross is all, all I need to see! Oh, praise the God of Calvary!”
YES! This is grace! Freedom in Christ! Salvation by His blood! Reconciliation with God! The cross! The God of Calvary! I was reminded once again of counsel from a saint of God who said we need to “preach the Gospel to ourselves every day.” We need to keep our eyes on the cross, never losing sight of that place where Jesus took our sins upon Himself. We need to remember that His wounds have set us free. His grace not only saves us, His grace keeps us. Even on difficult days, days where the battle with sin rages and the struggles of this life are weighing us down, He will never leave us. He understands the struggles we face on a daily basis. He loves us on the good days. He loves us on the hard days. Oh, how I needed to be reminded of all of this! God loves this struggling Mama, who still often stumbles under the weight of grief, who can’t seem to get her life together these days, who often feels like she is going crazy with her overcrowded schedule. Yes, He loves me even then. And He loves you no matter what as well. So, today, let’s lift our eyes above the struggles, look at the cross and praise the God of Calvary. His grace is enough!
