Devotion:
Read Ephesians 2:4-10.
My wife worked summers and every school break to pay as much of her college expenses as she could. Her parents worked hard to support their family and paid the balance of her college expenses. As we made our plans to get married, my wife told me she had kept up with the amount her parents had paid, and she wanted to pay them back in full. After all, her younger brother would be going to college in a few years too. I admired her for this, and we began to save some each month. When we had the amount needed, we wrote a check to her parents and went to see them. They looked at each other, smiled, and handed the check back to us. They would not budge, and it was the greatest financial gift we would ever receive. That meant we had to do something meaningful and special and lasting with the money. It turned out to be just the right amount for the down payment on our first home.
Human analogies and comparisons always fall short when we use them to illustrate God’s love, which is beyond comparison. We are given salvation by grace, God’s love that we can do nothing to earn or deserve. And that gift, as precious as it is, should make us want to do something very meaningful with our lives. We become disciples of Christ and do good works, not to be saved, but because we are saved and we know that this grace is free but not cheap.
Personal Worship Option:
Gracious God, your love amazes me. We sing of your grace, and we hear of it often in our worship. Thank you for loving me so personally and for the gift of grace. Help me to accept that gift every day, to embrace it, and to share it with others who may not know yet how much you love them. Amen
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