For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.  Titus 2:11-14  HCSB

Grace has several meanings.  A dancer can move with grace.  A person can gracefully accept something.  A lender can extend a grace period to a borrower and give them more time to pay.  But in Christian belief the term grace is defined as the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.  Simply put God gives us grace that we don’t deserve and could never earn and blesses us in spite of who and what we are.  Our pastor described grace last Sunday as God’s redemption at Christ’s expense.  John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  God sent Jesus to save us.  We didn’t do anything to deserve this.  We didn’t do anything to earn this.  In fact, I don’t know about you, but there have been many times I have done things that should have had God so disgusted that He just turned his back on me forever.  But still, he extended grace.

John 1:16 tells us that from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  Our scripture passage tells us that all have received grace.  We have all been extended grace.  I thank God that he gave me grace upon grace.  I thank God that he gave me time to clean up my act, but none of us know how much time we have here.  He gives us this grace, but we should not take it for granted.  Are you like I used to be?  Are you living your life thinking that someday you will get it all straight?  Are you living your life thinking that you have plenty of time to submit yourself to God and turn things over to Him?  Well, I did the same thing for many years and let me tell you, I was being foolish.

Today, right this minute, I can tell you without question that if God brought me home right now that I would be accepted into heaven,  But there were many years of my life where I wasn’t really sure.  Oh, I thought I probably would, but I wasn’t really sure.  But once I accepted the grace that God offered and turned everything over to Him, I wanted to follow His instructions.  I wanted to study His word.  I wanted to gather as often as I could with other Christians and study the bible.  I wanted to be sure that I understood His instructions and that I was living according to them to the best of my ability. I wanted to live in a sensible, righteous and godly way.  Now right away some of you are reading those words, sensible, righteous, and godly and you are thinking-BORING.  Well, years ago that’s what I thought too, but let me tell you they have been anything but that.  You see, for years I lived a life filled with drama.  There was always some kind of drama going on in my life.  I was spending more time in the bars than in church.  I was spending more time gossiping than praying and reading God’s word.  I was spending more time dealing with the drama than I was praising God.  And the crazy thing is, I really thought I was having a good time. Oh sure, I had regular bouts of anxiety and frustration, but I really thought I was having a good time.  Crazy, huh?

But when I turned it all over to God I understood what real fun was.  I understood about His grace.  I understood that although I did nothing to earn it, He was freely giving it to me anyway.  I also learned that when I focused on Him, He helped me to remove the drama.  I began to live in that peace that passes all understanding.  I began to have that unending joy.  I quit living according to my circumstances and started living according to God’s grace.  I accepted the fact that I am a blood bought child of God.  I am victorious.  I am loved beyond measure.  And most importantly, I live under the protection of His grace.  The devil cannot destroy me.

God’s grace is such an awesome gift, but if you are not taking full advantage of it and living according to His grace, then you are truly missing out.  Ephesians 2:8 tells us that by grace we have been  saved through faith and that it is nothing we have done, but is a gift from God.  Romans 6:14 tells us that sin will have no dominion over us since we are not under the law but under grace.  God’s grace is the best gift we will ever be given.  If you have not accepted Christ as your savior and been truly saved, draw near to Him.  Trust Him and accept this awesome gift.  I promise you, you have no idea what you are missing.

Have a great day!