By J.A. Medders
I made a deal with my kids: “Put your dishes away after every meal for a week and I’ll give you a surprise.” Guess how long they made it? Not past breakfast on day one. I restarted the clock. We gave it another go. But on the last day, they were eager to play a game together as a family and left their cups on the table. So I took their cups to the sink for them and still gave them a surprise. Why? Because grace abounds.
In that moment with my kids, I saw a parable of the gospel. There is no amount of achievement or morality, church attending or evangelical rain-dancing in the spiritual disciplines that can get us into God’s grace. The only way we get into God’s grace is through God’s provision of grace. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life—and He Himself is the grace of God for us (John 14:6, Titus 2:11).
Real Christianity is the message that salvation is always and only for undeserving sinners. Salvation is non-achievable—a complete gift of grace and mercy to sinners from the nail-pierced hands of Jesus Christ.
Did you ask Him to go toe-to-toe with Satan in the wilderness for you?
Did you ask Him to die for you back in 33 AD?
Did you ask Him to be raised from the dead, defeating sin and death for you?
The answer to all of the above is no. Jesus did all of this without you asking Him. Grace was coming for you before you were born, before you asked, and before you knew Him. Grace came for you.
There are a lot of competing voices in the world, but the real gospel rings out a simple message: You can be saved if you will give up trying to save yourself and abandon all other methods of salvation, believing in Christ alone.
Trust His death for the death of your sins (Galatians 2:20). Trust that His stack of folded-up grave clothes means you’ve been clothed in garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). Trust that the last set of sandal prints He left before He ascended back to the Father means that we will one day see Him face-to-face (1Corinthians 13:12). His work on your behalf is your only hope. It is done. He has done it all. You are saved by grace, and by grace alone.
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