Thankful For Grace

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.  Romans 3:23-26

Over the years, I have given thanks to many things.  From family to friends, God to pastors, and fellow devotion writers to you, all have provided me strength, inspiration, courage, and love for my writing.  In as much as I am thankful for those things, I want to give thanks this year for one thing God gave us and certainly gave me.  Without it, we would have no relationship with Him, and with it, we have a freedom we could never imagine.  This Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for God’s greatest gift; grace.

God’s grace is indeed enough.  For me, I lived a life years ago that was unworthy of God’s love or anyone else’s for that matter. This is why God’s grace is so amazing.  I could have continued to do anything as I pleased, but without grace, I felt empty.  With grace, I felt empowered, strengthened, and able to take on the world.  When the world bore its weight on me, God lifted and carried it so that I can move forward. This is why I am grateful to this wonderful God inspired gift.  Perhaps you had that very same feeling as me.  Some of you have had struggles different from mine.  Today, you might be either dealing with sin on something very trivial or fighting something major that seems overwhelming and impossible to overcome.  Grace is the ONLY thing that can make us clean.  It frees us to serve Him, and grows us to strive to do better than we could imagine on our own. 

You are a valued gift to God.  You are wonderful, prized, and redeemed by Jesus Christ.  He did so because He saw so much in you.  He had to because He saw something in me.  It’s something that allows me to write about how wonderful it is to serve an amazing God who gives me love and hope along with so many other things.  But before I knew all that existed, He first had to give me grace.  Let us all give thanks this season for what God has given us, and let us also share this gift with others who so desperately need to know that it’s not too late.  God is still there waiting and loves them so very much.  Who do you know is in need of grace?  How can this gift heal your unforgiving pain?  My prayer is that this Thanksgiving as we say grace, we spend a moment giving thanks for the wonderful gift of grace.  Amen, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Tues Devo: The new Thanksgiving question

Hello,

As we are in the week of Thanksgiving here in the US, most of us will be asked multiple times to share what we are thankful for. While I am not against that question and conversation, I do wonder if it is the real right question. Is it challenging enough? Should instead we ask a different question? Perhaps we should be asking one another this: “What actions are being driven by your thankfulness for _____ (fill in the blank)?” or “What you are doing differently that shows your thankfulness for ______ (fill in the blank)?”

It is easy to say we are thankful – but if we are truly thankful, it likely should drive something different from us. It may or may not be our actions and could also be a change in our effort level, involvement of others, approach etc.

This brings to mind the 10 lepers that Jesus healed.

The account in Luke 17:11-19 “While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”” (NASB)

The one who returned didn’t just quietly say thanks – he publicly glorified God and went out of his way to return to give his thanks. He also did this as a Samaritan, knowing Jesus was a Jew.

I challenge all of us this week as we contemplate what we are thankful for, ask ourselves how we will show that thankfulness in our actions/choices.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill