Thank you to Pat for this week’s MWB
Love of the Father – Grace
Our focus this week is God’s grace and I remember as a teenager learning G R A C E – God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
So what does that mean and what do we understand by God’s grace? In a nutshell – receiving what we don’t deserve, and these verses well look at today and over the next couple of weeks will hopefully help us grasp that more fully.
Romans.5: 6 – 8: ”You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
These verses speak volumes about the incredible depth of God’s unconditional love for each and every one of us. Despite our imperfections, our mistakes, and our sins, God loves us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for us. This ultimate sacrifice shows us that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love – it is a free gift, freely given to us. God’s truth here reassures us that his love is not based on our worthiness but on His character, His mercy, his love, thus providing hope and encouragement for us, especially when we feel unworthy or distant from God.
There are important phrases in this passage:
“At the right time”: reassures us of God’s perfect timing in history in sending Jesus to die for us
“while we were still powerless”: highlights our own helplessness and the necessary intervention of God for our salvation. We cant save ourselves! No matter how good we are!
“Christ died for the ungodly”; emphasises the profound act of Jesus’ sacrifice for those far away from God, if you read onto verse 10 it actually calls us enemies when our reconciliation was secured by Christ.
“God demonstrates his love for us”: God’s love is an ongoing present reality, it was not just one past action but God keeps on loving us, despite all our failures
“While we were still sinners”: stresses again the unconditional nature of God’s love, assuring us that His love is based on his character, and is not dependant on us.
“Christ died for us”: that’s the reality – Jesus paid the price of salvation – for each of us.
So these few verses highlight the boundless and sacrificial love of God to secure our salvation and call us to reflect on the depth of his grace and power of his love. May this truth be a source of hope and assurance for each of us, reminding us that we are loved and valued by God because of who He is and because he created us.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your unconditional love for us. We know we don’t deserve it but today we accept it anew, and are so grateful for your amazing free gift of salvation. Help us to live lives worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice, and your great love for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen