Loving God of all days, be this day with the needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Here is our text for this morning from Ephesians 2: 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ*—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace is God's "YES!" vote on your life. It is an affirmation we all need to hear at one time or another, or in some cases, all the time. Life has a way of knocking us down in so many ways and sometimes those knocks hit us in very delicate areas and we long to hear an affirmation such as the one shared in the Ephesians passage. God always takes the first step in reaching us. It is our decision to reach back, as it were, to take God's hand and let Him hold us. Our very relationship with God was God's initiative. Paul calls it our having "been saved" has come "by grace." Grace is God's free gift of love indwelling and active in our lives. Grace is receiving that which we know we don't deserve, but need, coming our way because of the awesomeness of God.
The very word grace comes from the Greek word, charis, which means "gift." I don't know about you, but I love gifts. I'm a bit old-fashioned in that I love getting those that come in boxes, gift wrapped in such unopenable ways that the excitement just builds and builds until I can get the gift unwrapped. Okay, I'm not going to lie, I also enjoy the ones that come in gift bags. I do wonder, who invented those? Probably someone who realized, "Man, am I late to this party - oh, here's a nice bag, I'll put the gift in there, 'hide' it with tissue, and viola! the gift is ready!" That works as well. Grace is a gift that comes ready for us to enjoy.
Pause for a moment and just receive God's grace for your life today. Let God speak to your life and needs in a wondrous way.
PRAYER: Loving God, I thank You for your gift of grace. I confess that I don't deserve it, but Your love for me goes beyond what I think, and for that I am blessed. May this day be a day in which I can share grace with others. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
