Grace

The message of the gospel is a message of grace, hope, and transformation. The power of the gospel stops a person in their tracks, causes them to realize their sin, and turns them to God. The gospel is not about being born into a Christian home, going through catechism, attending church, or being a good moral person. It is about life transformation.

Grace is the entire package. It initiates our relationship with God and takes us all the way home.

Today we read an amazing story about amazing grace. A woman who had led a sinful life was ready to head in a different direction, so she found the Great Agent of Change. This account is a powerful reminder: Jesus did not turn sinners away…whatever their sin…neither should we.

Before Jesus, I served the god of ME. I lived in the throne room, sitting on my royal throne and calling out with my royal voice. But it was all a façade. The god of ME was a pitiful and powerless god. One day, though, everything changed.

The apostle Peter had a question about forgiveness. When he asked Jesus how many times a person should be forgiven, Jesus told the story of a king who wanted to settle his accounts.

When I was growing up, a plaque hung on a wall in our house that read, “Don’t worry. It may never happen.” I passed that saying many times each day, and those words became branded on my brain. So, of course, I never worry. (I wish!)

Then one day, studying Scripture, I learned that nothing could separate me from the love of God found in Christ alone. It was like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. That day, on a hot parking lot in Dallas, Texas, I understood that I was a child of God and would forever be!

Let’s not become so accustomed to sin in our lives and the sin around us that we allow the music of grace to whistle through our skulls without taking our breath away.

Jesus is the one way to God. He provided the only way by dying for our sin on the cross.