Grace Card
>> Saturday, January 19, 2013
Yesterday I took off not even thinking about the speedometer. I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time. I mindlessly drove on this most perfect road. Until...I saw a police car in front of me. I had just come down a hill so I didn't have much notice. Ugh...a police car. In the middle of nowhere too. I applied the brakes a little, to show some respect and I felt a pit in my stomach. Please, don't pull me over. Please...
He kept on driving. I was shown some grace. And I appreciated it. I certainly deserved to be pulled over. When I looked at my speed, it showed 70. I had no idea. I told you, the road is a race track!
Every single day, I experience grace, both in my day-to-day life and in my spiritual life but the grace experienced in my spiritual life is much more often and I can count on it.
"...The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ." -- (Romans 3:22-24 NIV)
You see, Jesus is our Grace Card - our 'Get out of Jail Free Card.' Without Him, shiver... I can't even imagine where I would be without Jesus. I don't want to think about it.
I learned my lesson for a bit. I drove the speed limit the rest of the way into town. But guess what I did when I got to the Waynesville Speed Way on the way home - I found my foot getting heavier and heavier until I was going about 70 mph again. Whoa! Surely I've learned my lesson. I backed off and scolded myself. When will I learn? Will I ever learn my lesson?
I'm very grateful to Jesus, that He died on the cross for me. If the things I did depended on me going to Heaven - I would be in trouble. My heavy foot would lead me down instead of to my intended destination, I'm afraid. All we have to do is believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Remember this most important verse of all and probably one of the first I memorized, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NIV)
This post may seem pretty basic but there's a time we need to get down to the basics. We need to remember there's many out there who don't know all of this. Things we learned when we were little, are foreign to others. Let's reach out and share this Good News to our friends and family in this New Year, 2013. We're running out of time. I really believe that. We've been shown grace and we'll be shown grace on That Day, Judgement Day. Won't you share that grace with others?
