Essentials for Students, 7-Days of Digging Deeper Into Your Faith

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

A well-known pop singer accepts an award for a song that was wildly popular.

During their acceptance speech, all they kept saying was, “I don’t deserve this.” As they point to the nominees, they keep saying, “You all should have this. I want you all to have this.” A rock artist. A hip-hop artist. A country artist. All of them. “You all should have this. I want you all to have this.” This is a wild thought! This artist worked so incredibly hard on this particular song, and millions of people have bought and streamed it! The song slaps! Yet, the pop singer thought the other artists deserved the award.

Now think about this: what if the other nominees were not artists at all?

What if they were terrible people? What if instead of making music, the nominee hurt people? What if instead of a hip-hop artist, the nominee was a liar? What if instead of a country artist, the nominee was a person who ignored the hungry and helpless? Do you think the award-winning artist would still feel as though they all should have the award? Would they still say to all the nominees, “You all should have this. I want you all to have this”?

We see in Scripture that Jesus was the display of God’s grace to us.

Grace can be defined as free, unearned, and undeserved favor of God toward you. Have you ever meditated on the thought that God favors you? God, the One who created everything, favors and loves you. But why? Why does God favor us and love us? Do we do enough to earn it? Is it something that we attain?

Jesus’ work on the cross is the clear answer that God favors you and loves you.

And, what’s more, we learn in Scripture that it is a gift from God. Grace was extended to each and every one of us because of God’s kindness. The answer is not that we did enough to earn it because we simply cannot do enough to earn it. The answer is not that we can impress God or accrue enough good stuff to attain grace because it is not something that can be attained. It is a costly gift, freely given to us through faith in what Jesus did for us. Jesus knew our sin well -- like the doctor viewing the x-ray. Only He didn’t just leave us there. He came and saved us by taking on all of our sin and dying the death we deserved. And when Jesus rose from his grave on the third day, He was actually putting the nail in the coffin of death. Our sin crushed His earthly body, but the power of God raised Jesus back to life to crush sin and death forever.

God’s grace extended towards us is a similar response to the pop singer’s award acceptance speech -- only better.

Jesus said, “I don’t deserve this, but I want to do this for them.” Even though He fully knew that every person has sin in them and even though He knew people would be completely against Him. He looked at everyone with everlasting life in His eyes and said, “You all should have this. I want you all to have this.” But the most important part is that His grace is not and will never be dependent on your actions. You never have to perform good deeds to earn it, and you can never do enough bad deeds to be excluded from it. God’s grace to you through your faith in Jesus is His free and absolute best gift to you. And what’s more, it’s not an award for a great song. It's eternal life in Him with true freedom, peace, and joy.