Noah Webster defines grace as the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him.
Just over six years ago, I was living a life like Paul talks about when he says that there are those who are dead while they are still alive. I was living for myself and for pleasure and I led a destructive and depraved life before the Lord and the world. I was dead in my transgressions. If not for the Word of God, I would still be depraved and destitute.
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:3-5
During this time, I was having lunch in a restaurant with Pastor Ross. The restaurant closes down between lunch and dinner and we ended up staying there during the break with just a few staff members remaining and the lights out. I was talking and he had a look on his face that said, “This kid’s never gonna make it.” I was sharing things with him about my life that made him feel as if there wasn’t any hope for me.
I was sharing with him the three major events that ultimately led me to know the Lord personally. They all happened within the same year.
I had an older brother who had a wife and a one-year-old daughter. He committed suicide. We were very close and it was very unexpected. During that time and shortly after, my life was void of meaning and purpose and I contemplated taking my own life as well.
I was sexually immoral. I was a liar and filled with wickedness. I had many relationships with women and I ended up getting one of my girlfriends pregnant. Those nine months were the closest to hell that I’ve ever been or ever will be. During that time I was filled with hatred and manipulation. There was verbal and physical abuse. There were police and police reports. We had a son and placed him for adoption.
My relationships with friends and family were in ruin. A relationship that I was holding on to as the last stand for my life broke down and I became a bottomless pit of sorrow and self-pity.
But God’s Word tells us that where sin abounds, grace abounds far more.
I was selfish, reckless and careless, but because of Pastor Ross and other godly people who spoke into my life, I came to know the Lord and he revived my spirit and brought me to life and he did it through the Word of God. It’s only the Word that can revive us and renew us. I was dead in my sin, but God, through his Word, made me alive in Christ. His Word transformed my thinking.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
God’s grace seeks to give us what his justice and mercy cannot: It gives us gifts that we – as people who have sinned against God – do not deserve. His grace gives us the gift of salvation and it gives us the ability to live our lives for him.
If you are struggling with trials in your life or if you’re struggling with the ability to say to no to ungodliness and worldly passions, the remedy is God’s grace and it is found in a relationship with him and through abiding in his Word and letting it dwell within you richly.
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