God’s Grace
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- -and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9
Dr. Jeff Volkmer writes on grace: “My wife and I did a portion of our honeymoon in Central Oregon, and as an English major in college, I desperately wanted to attend a performance at Ashland’s renowned Shakespeare Festival.
As newlyweds, my wife was a great sport as we drove from Bend to Ashland to try to get tickets to see one of Shakespeare’s plays.
However, this was at a time when the internet was in its infancy and so the only way to purchase tickets was to physically travel to the box office and pick them up.
You can imagine how bummed we were when, after a long drive, we were informed by the attendant at the booth that all of the shows were already completely sold out. The despair and disappointment were evident on our faces when an older man walked up to inform us that he had two tickets for the evening’s next play, but he was not able to attend and wondered if we’d like his tickets. I immediately said “yes!” and asked how much he would like for them, to which he responded, “they’re free, enjoy!”
This was tremendous news and we entered the theater and tried to find the seats and row written on the ticket, but were having no luck. So we went to one of the ushers, showed her our ticket, and she said that she would walk us to our seats.
We were not prepared for the fact that we were to be led all the way to the front of the theater and seated in the middle two seats in the very front row — the best seats in the entire theater!
We could not believe how blessed we were by this ticket owner’s generosity!
Our invitation into the theater was indeed free, but those prime seats were nevertheless contingent upon tickets that demonstrated the legitimacy of our claim to those seats.
That legitimacy, in turn, was purchased by someone else and accorded to us.
Just like the unexpected guest at the wedding, our invitation into the kingdom is free, but it is nevertheless contingent upon the sacrificial gift of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Our God loves us and it is by His abundant grace we are saved.
Thank Jesus for His grace.
“Saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lusts as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a thief his bolts, or a beggar his rags.” – Thomas Brooks
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.” – Ephesians 2:4-5