Good morning, and a most blessed Thursday to you.

In our time of devotion today we are going to talk about grace. I know! Big surprise! A Lutheran pastor doing a devotion on grace! But that is exactly what we're going to talk about today.

For some reason, there is this difficulty that we have in accepting or grasping even the smallest idea of grace. We have sayings like, there is no such thing as a free ride, or free meal. We refer to someone as being a freeloader. And we end up with this idea that we have to work for what we receive. And if we don't work for what we get, then we won't get it. And so grace, and the grace of God seems completely counterintuitive to who we are, or how we really view this world. 

The truth is that grace is extremely counterintuitive, but that's what makes it so different from this world. Because grace is not something that we can work for. It's not something that we can earn. And it's not within our own hands, which is a blessing! But this is a really difficult idea for us to grasp. 

So we're going to look at a couple of Scripture verses, using the ESV (English Standard Version) of the Bible. Roman 5:1 Paul writes:

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Notice that justification comes by faith.  That right standing before the Lord is not through you, is not through your work, is not through anything that has to do with you.  But it is through our Lord Jesus Christ.  And what is the result of that?  We have peace with God. We have peace in that relationship. We have been brought into that peace with the Lord by the Lord.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul writes:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.”

Paul continues....

“And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

My brothers and sisters, we have been called into our faith in the one Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who died upon a cross and was resurrected from the tomb; raised to new life, and raises us to new life with him.  It is not anything that we have earned. It is not anything that we do. We aren't freeloaders, but we are free recipients of the grace and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not cheap. It is not easy, but it is also not your work. It cost God himself a great price. A price they cost him his own life. It cost him his own blood. It cost the Father his own Son. And yet he gave himself freely, so that we could have peace with Him through Christ.

Let this be a good word. And when you strive to make yourself right before the Lord, come back to those verses, realizing that our justification, our right standing before the Lord, is through himself and himself alone. “By faith you have been saved.”

Let us pray.  Lord, we thank you so much for calling us into faith; for putting the confession of Christ our Lord upon our lips. We asked that we would rejoice in the grace that you have so freely given to us in the forgiveness that we have; not seeking to earn our righteousness before you, but basking in your goodness and glory. through the completeness of your sacrifice for us. Lord, we ask that this word would be upon our lips, that we would go forth this day and always, rejoicing and proclaiming the good news of life in you. We asked this all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have an amazing rest of your week. I cannot wait to worship with you on Sunday, basking in the glory and the goodness of our Lord. 

God bless!

Pastor Malinak