By Robin Wiley
Romans 3:22-24
22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
I think we all struggle sometimes with accepting God’s endless grace. I know I do, and some of our kiddos struggle with it as well. They expressed it anonymously during one of our lessons for Youth Bible study on Wednesday’s. When asked about the doubts and fears they were currently facing in their everyday lives – many expressed they doubted they were good enough to be forgiven or loved. Some doubted their faith or even about their future, that they might not be successful. All of them wished their relationship with Jesus was stronger.
Paul says we “all are justified freely by his grace…” ALL of us are forgiven and given our Lord’s grace which He poured out on us at the cross. We only have to believe it with our whole hearts. “By His grace we are saved, through faith…”(Eph 2:8), not by anything I or anyone else can do – this gives me much comfort. I know that Jesus gives me His grace every day and there is freedom in that knowledge.
Paul in 1 Cor 8:1-13, tells the Corinthians that “all of us possess knowledge” but not all of us use it for good or for selfless reasons. It’s easier said than done, right? Despite having all this knowledge at our fingertips, we are still struggling to believe God’s grace through Jesus is real. Just because we can’t see it right away doesn’t mean it’s not magically working behind the scenes for our good. His grace is for my good. His grace is for your good. For everyone’s good. Sit with that thought for a minute. Make that three.
For the past several weeks, I have been challenging our kiddos who come to Youth night to meditate in silence on a scripture that speaks specially to the point of our lesson that night. The first time they tried sitting for just one minute of silence, the fidgeting and moving in the chairs never stopped. We been practicing this discipline of silence at the beginning of our lesson with our “Call to Worship” segment for four weeks and this last time – they continued to sit in silence for about 20 more seconds after the timer went off! No one spoke or moved and most still had their heads bowed. I was impressed. It was pretty cool to see God’s grace pour out over them through the silence.
I extend that same challenge to all of you who read this devotional – to meditate on a verse on grace. The Bible is full of them but here are a few that are well known and very dear to the heart:
Ephesians 2:8-9. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
2 Corinthians 12:9. “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Hebrews 4:16 . “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Take a portion of the verse – like “by His grace we are saved” or thank Jesus for His grace over and over to yourself in silence. “Jesus’ grace saves me.” Sit somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed for 3 minutes. Focus on the verse you have chosen and take a few deep breaths and meditate. Put a timer on and just sit with the endless flow of grace our sweet Lord spills out from His now resurrected body. May your faith be strengthened!
Prayer:
Father God – thank you that your sweet son’s grace is sufficient for me. Quiet my mind and eliminate all distractions so that I can focus on your word which is truth filled by the grace and spirit of your son Jesus. May I always be worthy of that grace. Amen.