Amazing Grace

DEVOTION

AMAZING GRACE

Rom 6:23

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NIV

Let’s talk about the other grace which is used seventeen times in the New Testament. This is the grace which we mostly call as unmerited favor, the free gift of God. This verse again, is the most widely quoted referring to the gift of God, salvation and eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This Greek word translated gift is that word Charisma. A gift from God. Some translations add the word free, although it does not appear in the Greek Interlinear. Yet it is free, as most, if not all gifts are received. When we give a gift we surely do not expect the recipient to pay us for it, or do something for it, or owe us something, or act in a manner of indebtedness. It is a free gift which we gave out of our free will because we care for that person and wanting to show them how much, by giving the gift. Of course sometimes we give out of a sense of obligation because we were invited to a party. Who would show up to a birthday, baby shower, wedding shower, or wedding without a gift, after being invited? But still we give the gift freely and without any expectation other than a thank you. That is sort of how God’s free gift is. It is free and he gives it freely, but first we have to invite him to the party. He does not show up uninvited. So we invite Jesus to our party of life. We have been a having the time of our life doing whatever we please. But somehow someone tells us about Jesus wanting to be invited and because of the prompting and conviction of the Holy Spirit we make the invitation and he comes bearing this free gift of eternal life. In most cases of gifts at parties the recipient has to unwrap the gifts. It is sort of like that with the gift of God, we have to unwrap it. We have to see exactly what this gift is, how wonderful it is, what it means to us and how do we respond to his gift. Some recipients at parties respond with, “Oh how beautiful”, “It’s just want I wanted”, “I can really use this, thank you” Or something else along those lines. Sometimes just a simply “Thank you so much” will do just fine. That might well be our best response to God’s free gift of eternal life. “Thank you Lord, so much”. But somehow we also might get a little confused about our response and try somehow to repay God, or do something thinking we now have to earn it in order to keep it. We start thinking along the lines about how can we be a “Good Christian” in order to live up to the gift. The fact is, there is no such thing as a “Good Christian” because then we would have to say, that is in respect to being a “Bad Christian”. How is that possible? How can we be a “Bad Christian” if we accepted his free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord? Oh sure we are not supposed to just go out and see how many sins we can commit just because we have this free gift. That would just be ludicrous. But on the other hand there is no proper response of trying to be a “Good Christian”, that is trying to live completely free of sin, or thinking that we do, for than we would not be in need of the gift anymore. We would attain perfection and then be just as perfect as Christ and have no need of him in order to live eternally. However, the scriptures are full of instructions as to what manner of life we are to live now that we have opened the Gift of God and thanked him for it. Those manners of life are covered under the other grace, the divine influence upon our heart and how that is reflected in our lives. So once we open the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus, he sends the Holy Spirit to influence our heart, directing our life, and our path. It is just so simply, we just need to say, Thank you Lord for saving my soul, thank you Lord for making me whole. How amazing is Grace!