If you’ve ever tried to be totally good for any period of time, you know how hard it is to completely obey God in all he asks. It’s impossible. No one can do it (Romans 3.23). The fact is, we are helpless on our own to earn our way into God’s grace and forgiveness. We can try our best to look good, but God sees into the depths of our hearts and minds—where sin starts—and can stay hidden to other people.
We can’t earn justification, and don’t deserve it, yet Jesus—who was willing to take our place on the cross—selflessly offers it to us. It flows from the perfectly gracious, loving, giving nature of God, our God who is radically and wildly generous.
He declares us innocent not because we’re good (and deserve it), but because he’s good (and his graciousness never ends). Practice saying what Pastor Manion taught us about grace, “I did not earn it and do not deserve it.”
We’re declared “innocent” for all we’ve “said, taken, and done” when we receive this incredibly generous gift from Jesus. Today as you meet with God, consider how your reluctance to receive expensive gifts, or your attitude of thinking you deserve expensive gifts, works against your receiving God’s grace.
