Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Law & the Gospel of God's Grace

Here is a devotion from Love Worth Finding Ministries for today.
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.”
Romans 4:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
There are almost six billion people on the face of this earth. If you extracted from each one the very best character traits and put those things into one man, that one man would still have to bow before God and cry out for mercy to be saved. We’ve got to quit trying to be saved by doing good things or being a moral person or by even keeping the Ten Commandments. The law says “if,” the gospel says “therefore.” The law says you must earn salvation, while the gospel says salvation is a gift. The law demands holiness. The gospel provides holiness. The law says run, but it doesn’t give us legs. The gospel says fly, and it gives us wings of grace.

1 comment:

Elizabeth Pruett said...

I've enjoyed reading the devotions you post.

This is a tricky subject for me to talk to people about, because I don't want them to get the wrong impression and think that grace gives them a "permission to sin." I think the devotion said it well, "...would still have to bow before God and cry out for mercy to be saved." It is in the humility... the desire to please God with the knowledge that you can never make the cut on your own. We don’t make ourselves holy. God makes us holy.