SCRIPTURE:
4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:4
OBSERVATION:
Grace is always available for you. But are you receiving it appropriately?
Romans 3:23-24 NIV says, “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.” God doesn’t expect you to be perfect. With Him, it’s okay to be imperfect and to make mistakes because His grace is sufficient for us. But be warned: God’s grace is not a free pass to do whatever you want.
Yes, God’s grace forgives, loves, and makes room for our imperfections. And when we ask for forgiveness, He forgives us completely. As far as the east is from the west, so has He forgotten our sins. So if God doesn’t expect perfection from us, if He forgives us whenever we ask, and if He always welcomes us back home, does this mean that we can just sin as much as we want? And as long as we ask for forgiveness and eventually come back to Him, we’re all good? No, it does not.
As Jude says, God’s grace is not an excuse for sinful living. Grace is not permission to do whatever you want, whenever you want, and not change at all. Grace is an invitation to grow––for grace is God’s kindness to us through the process of change.
God understands that our flesh causes us to live in the tension between who we were and who we can become––and in this process, we will make wrong decisions. We will do the wrong things. We will mess up because we are human. We aren’t perfect. Thus, grace makes allowances for our imperfections in our pursuit of righteousness.
APPLICATION:
Grace is not a free pass to do whatever you want; it is God’s compassion on us in our pursuit of freedom.
Receive His grace completely, but don’t misuse and abuse even partially.
And the more grace you genuinely receive, the more you should desire to change. Why? Because someone who truly understands the value of the grace they have been given and the debt of the price they would have never been able to pay to receive it cannot help but desire to be different.
Imagine your car ran out of gas on the side of the road, so you call a friend, and that friend drives from their home, to a gas station, and then to where you are to deliver a tank of gas so you don’t remain stranded. What would you do in response to that? You’d probably want to repay them somehow––kindness, favors, blessings. You wouldn’t take them for granted; you’d go out of your way to thank them. And even more importantly, you’d do everything in your power to keep checking your fuel gauge to make sure you don’t ever have to inconvenience your friend in that same way again. You’d change your behavior because you don’t want to take advantage of your friend’s kindness. Guess what? God’s grace is so much more valuable than a tank of gas. And God is so much more important than any one of your friends. If you’d be willing to change your imperfect ways and go out of your way to thank that friend, then why aren't you even more willing to do the same for God?
Your lifestyle is a direct reflection of what you truly believe. So ask yourself:
- Is your life a reflection of the grace you’ve been given?
- Do your actions show the value of the grace you’ve been given?
- Does your desire to change and your progress of change reflect the great debt that has been paid for you to even be eligible to receive God’s grace?
Today, take an honest look in the mirror and ask yourself who you truly believe in. And if who you believe in is anything other than our pure, perfect, and always-good God, change your belief by being truly changed by grace.
There’s no such thing as a “free pass.” Grace might be free to you, but it’s only because it wasn’t free to Jesus. So if you call yourself a Christian, don’t waste His grace. Receive it, value it, and change because of it.
PRAYER:
God,
Thank You for Your grace. I repent for the times I have devalued Your grace and have taken it for granted. Forgive me, change me, and make me the person You want me to be. I receive Your grace. I love You, Lord. Thank you for loving me.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
