God Is in Controlಮಾದರಿ

Day 21: Trust in the Gift of Grace

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

How often we complicate what God has made simple. The Greek word charis, for grace, means unmerited favor, a gift that comes to us not because we deserve it, but because the Giver is generous beyond measure. This is not a feeling. It is a fact.

Too often, we live and act based on merit, as if everything depended on what we do or achieve. You work, you earn. You study, you pass. You do well, you receive. But the Kingdom of God operates on an entirely different principle: grace. And grace, by its very nature, cannot be earned. To try to earn grace is to completely misunderstand it.

"You are saved" is not an illusion or a future hope, but a present reality. The work is done. Complete. Complete. Your salvation is as certain as the Cross itself, because it is not based on your feeble efforts, but on the finished work of Christ.

But how we fight against this truth! We insist on adding our small contributions to God's great salvation. We think that surely there must be something we can do, some way to help. But grace excludes all such efforts. If it didn't exclude them, it would no longer be grace.

When you find yourself reaching for the burden of trying to become worthy of God's love, stop. Remember that worthiness was never the issue. God didn't save you because you had the potential to be good. He saved you because He is good. The gift was given while you were still a sinner, and it remains yours now, not because you have improved, but because He does not change.

This should be the most liberating truth you will ever hear. You can cease your struggle. You can lay down the crushing weight of self-improvement as a means to God's favor for salvation. You are loved, completely and eternally, because grace made you so.

He who began this good work will complete it. Salvation is a gift from God precisely because He remains in control of every aspect of it. If it depended on you in any measure, it would be uncertain. But because it rests entirely in the hands of God's grace, it is absolutely secure.

My Prayer:

Father, Your charity overwhelms my small understanding. Help me to receive what I cannot earn and to rest in what I cannot improve. When I am tempted to add my works to Your perfect gift, remind me that grace must be grace, or it is nothing. May I live not as one who tries to be loved, but as one who is already loved. Through Christ, who is grace itself, Amen.

Questions to Reflect:

1. At what point in your spiritual life do you struggle most to accept grace without adding your own efforts?

2. How would your prayers change if you truly believed that God's love for you is already complete?