(By : Dessy Ariadna – Stand To Jesus Writing Team)
Grace is a free gift given to someone not because he is great, extraordinary, smarter than others and so on, this gift is purely free without someone having to work for it, that is grace.
Maybe you ask, what kind of grace is meant? Is there anyone who would give something for free to someone without that person having to do anything? Of course there is! Look at the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross which takes away all our sins even though we really don’t deserve forgiveness at all, that’s grace!
Jesus did not wait for us to be right before He would die on the cross for us, instead, when we were still enemies of God (because of our sins), Christ died for us all to reconcile us with the Father.
Romans 5:8-11 (IMB) However, God shows His love for us, namely that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Moreover now that we have been justified by His blood, in Him we shall surely be saved from wrath. For if while we were still enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, after being reconciled, will we surely be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord JESUS Christ, through whom we have now received the atonement.
The heavenly Father realized that we humans cannot save ourselves from all our sins, therefore Christ had to die on the cross in our place. If JESUS doesn’t want to die for us on the cross to take away all our sins, then we are the ones who have to die, because the wages of sin in God’s word is death.
Romans 6:23 (IMB) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through JESUS Christ our Lord.
Through the sacrifice of JESUS Christ on the cross we have been forgiven, saved, justified and sanctified, all of this God did on the basis of love, because He is the Person of Love Himself. No matter how bad our past is, how dark is behind us, the Father still loves us with His extraordinary and unconditional love. This is God’s extraordinary gift (grace).
Titus 3:4-7 (IMB) But when God our Savior showed His goodness and love towards men, not on the basis of the good deeds we did, but because of His mercy, He saved us by cleansing us so that we were born return and new life through the Holy Spirit, whom He has bestowed upon us through JESUS Christ, our Savior, so that we, who have been justified by His grace, may be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 2:4-5 (IMB) But God, who is rich in mercy, has loved us, through His great love. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive with Christ. By grace, you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (IMB) By grace you have been saved through faith, not by yourselves, but by the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
