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Grateful for God’s Grace
‘To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given.’ Ephesians 3:8 NKJV
One day the Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery. The law of Moses was clear; she must be stoned. And the Pharisees were ready to do it. This woman probably thought that Jesus, being righteous, would agree. She had no lawyer to defend her, not even a character witness! But suddenly Jesus stooped and began to write in the sand. Some scholars think that perhaps He wrote down their sins, including times and places. When He looked up, the woman’s accusers had gone. He said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’ (John 8:11 NKJV)
That day Jesus lifted her from a position of undeniable guilt to one of unconditional pardon. She didn’t deserve it; she didn’t even know it was possible.
Abraham Lincoln once watched a plantation owner bidding for a slave girl. Figuring the man was going to buy her and abuse her, Lincoln paid the price to set her free. ‘Does this mean I can go wherever I want to go?’ she asked. Lincoln said, ‘Yes, you’re free!’ With tears streaming down her face, she replied, ‘Then, sir, I will go with you.’
The word ‘grace’ is so important Paul mentions it three times more than any other writer. Remembering the violent life he lived, he writes, ‘To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given.’ The word ‘grace’ comes from the Greek word charis, meaning ‘pure joy’.
Although you don’t deserve it, God considers saving you to be a ‘pure joy’.
SoulFood: Ex 33–35, Jn 4:27–38, Ps 32, Prov 27:1–3
word4today an adaptation of The Word For Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2018
