So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead. Rom. 5:21 (NLT)
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Cor. 15:10 (NIV)
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Tim. 2:1 (NIV)
Heavenly Father, the more I read your Word the more I see your grace as the most heart-transforming, life-reorienting power in the universe. Indeed, grace rules and “rocks.” It’s no tame kitten, but a disruptive kingdom.
Through the gospel, you haven’t just rescued us from the vanity of self-righteousness and the futility of legalism; you have placed us in a whole new dominion and have released a power in our lives that claims all things and changes everything.
The Apostle Paul was being modest when he declared, “his grace to me was not without effect.” Sometimes when I read his letters and consider his journeys in the Book of Acts, I honestly wonder if I really want to be as free as Paul was—free to live and die for Jesus; free to become all things to all people, that they might rest in your glorious salvation; free to count all things loss for the excellency of knowing Christ. Father, forgive me for wanting homogenized, domesticated, predictable grace.
Your plan isn’t merely to get us into heaven one day, but to get more of heaven into us every day. Grace doesn’t just free us from bad and broken religion, pragmatism and moralism, pietism and quietism, and a bunch of other “isms.” It frees us to live less for ourselves and more for Jesus—the one who died for us, who is always praying for us, and who is coming back for us.
Father, bring a “no-holds-barred,” “no-prisoners-taken,” all-things-renewing grace revival to our hearts and churches. Rescue us from little selves, little stories, and little fiefdoms. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus triumphant and tender name.
