40 Days of Grace (eBook)

WEEK 1

Amazing Grace

Day 1: Let Me Introduce You to Grace!

I got married when I was thirty-five years old, back in 1989. My wife’s name is Shirley Grace and I’m really glad I married her, because God knew I surely needed a lot of grace!

I remember the first time I met her. It was actually ten years before we got married, in 1979. She was sitting by a swimming pool in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I was twenty-five years old and a dashing young man. She was (and is!) gorgeous. That was the first thing I noticed about her! Soon after, of course, I came to know and appreciate her cheerful disposition, her gentle, nurturing spirit and her zealous heart for Jesus as well.

Now, you might be wondering, “If she was so amazing, inside and out, why did it take you so long to get around to marrying her?” Great question!

There were a lot of reasons: the busyness of life, not living anywhere near each other, my need to grow up in some ways… that sort of thing. But the main reason was that I was used to living on my own and the idea of being married was kind of scary. Decades later, I can’t imagine living without her, but back then I had no idea how good it would be.

God offers us a new life of grace and yet so many of God’s people still seem to live life as independent, “single” people. Why is that? If God’s grace is so amazing, inside and out, why does it take so many of us so long to get around to living by and in grace? Great question!

This might be a really good time to let me introduce you to grace! Maybe you have “met” before, but through the busyness of life, not hanging around much together, and your need to grow up in some ways, you and grace have kind of fallen on hard times. Maybe the thought of living by God’s grace rather than independently, by your own resources, seems… well… kind of scary.

Romans 5:1–2 says:

We’ll talk more next week about being justified (made not guilty) by faith, so hang in there on that part. But just as we are introduced to and enter into a life of freedom from guilt by faith, so we also obtain our introduction into God’s grace by faith.

You might be familiar with Ephesians 2:8–9:

It might be helpful to translate this verse into a mathematical-type equation. All right, I admit to being left-brained, so all you right-brainers just humor me for a moment, OK?

The idea in Ephesians 2 of our rescue from sin being a gift of God is very important. That’s really what grace is: a free gift that we don’t deserve. Some define it as “unmerited favor.” In short, grace is God freely giving us what we don’t deserve and can’t come up with on our own, but what we desperately need.

Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

We obtain our introduction into God’s grace when we, by faith, receive God’s free gift of forgiveness in Christ. We turn away from our self-centered, independent lifestyle (the Bible calls this sin), and realize His death on the cross was full payment for our sins. In response, we open our hearts to Jesus to forgive us and take charge of our lives, believing that He rose from the dead and is now very much alive!

Like any gift, however, God’s grace must be received, but unlike a Christmas present or birthday gift, which we can see, God’s gift of forgiveness (His grace) is not visible. Therefore it must be received, not by sight, but by faith. By “faith” I mean that we believe God is telling us the truth and that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He’ll do, and we say “yes” to Him. We believe. That’s faith.

Have you ever received this free gift from God? If so, you have already been introduced to grace! If you haven’t, we encourage you to do so as soon as your heart is open.

For those who have already been introduced to grace, how is your “relationship” with grace going? It’s remarkable to me that many who started out so well, being so excited about and grateful for God’s saving, rescuing grace, somehow take a wrong turn away from grace at some point. Most probably they don’t even realize they’ve gotten off track.

It’s kind of like we gradually get tricked into believing that somewhere along the race of life God changed the rules. We start off well, trusting in God alone to supply what we need and to enable us to live life, but then down the road we come to believe it is “up to us” to make the Christian life work. The apostle Paul couldn’t figure out how and why some of his friends had made that wrong turn away from grace and faith. He wrote:

The way it works is simple. You come to Jesus and receive His free gift (grace) of rescue from sin’s penalty by faith. And God gives you the Holy Spirit at that moment… by faith. Then you grow in Christ the same way. God gives you all you need in love, power and wisdom as a gift of grace, and you walk (live) in His provision… by faith. Paul writes elsewhere:

How did you receive Christ Jesus the Lord? By grace through faith. So how do you walk (live life) in Christ? By grace through faith. God provides what we need (which includes a community of faith, called the Church), and we live our lives fully dependent on His provision. Like I said, it’s simple. Why do we so often make it complex?

Maybe this really is your introduction to grace. Or maybe you are just beginning to get reacquainted, rekindling an old flame, so to speak. Either way, welcome.

I’ve been married for a couple decades. I’ve been in Christ, living by faith in His grace, much longer. In both cases, I can’t imagine living any other way.

A THOUGHT TO CHEW ON

Living by grace doesn’t end when you come to Christ; that’s just the beginning!

A TRUTH TO REMEMBER

“Through [Christ] we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand…” (Romans 5:2).

A QUESTION TO MULL OVER

How would you describe your relationship with grace? Strangers? Polite acquaintances? Close friends? Falling in love? What relationship? Something else?

TALKING IT OVER WITH GOD

Father, it’s really easy to fall back into thinking that this life is pretty much up to me. After all, almost from the time I was born, the whole world system is designed for me to learn to live life on my own… to not be dependent on anyone… to be “grown up,” which translates into becoming increasingly self-reliant and self-sufficient. I know that there’s no way I can save myself and so in that way it’s kind of easy to see how much I need You. But isn’t it a sign of weakness to have to live by faith in Your grace every moment of every day? I guess I have to admit that my relationship with grace needs some work.

I really hope You can be patient with me as I learn to walk by this grace in which I now stand. Are you gracious enough to not get mad at me even though I start out at a crawl? The Bible says You are kind and patient and all that, but sometimes I doubt. Thanks for listening. Amen.

Day 2: Is God Gracious?

“To be honest with you, I haven’t thought about God very much lately.”

That was the honest admission of the lady sitting in the aisle seat as I was flying out of Atlanta. I was by the window, thankful for the extra elbow room the vacant middle seat afforded. I had let her know that my job was to basically help people get “unstuck” and experience the most life has to offer by getting to know God. I could tell she was curious though skeptical.

“My grandmother forced religion on all of us, and nobody had the backbone to refuse her,” she continued. “That was probably smart, since I think she could have whipped us all!” She smiled as she retold the stories of her grandmother’s amazing cooking exploits, serving up world-class meals for their entire clan. I could almost smell the lasagna!

It was clear that this woman’s grandmother, though a great cook, was the strict matriarch of the family, and what she wanted, she got. So the whole family would dutifully trudge off to church on Sundays, and for weddings, funerals, baptisms and holidays. Fed up with church, God and anything to do with religion, Valerie (not her real name) had fled from her family’s stifling religious tradition as soon as she grew up.

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled from the stories of her life, Valerie had come to one very clear conclusion: If God had anything to do with her...