Daily Devotionals

Devotional: February 15th

For Reading and Meditation:
     Ephesians 2:1-10

We are acknowledging that in order to understand "grace" we must see it in relation to a Sovereign. As one writer puts it: "Grace is bound to be sovereign since it cannot by its very nature be subject to compulsion." That is why we often refer to it as free grace. There is no reason for grace but grace. I believe the old definition of grace cannot be improved: "Grace is the free unmerited favor of God." At the heart of all true communion with God there lies this gripping truth - God took the initiative. He is more inclined toward us than we are toward Him. We cannot earn His affection. We have simply to receive it. Always the initiative is from God. When you originally came to Him you came because He first drew you. The very faith by which you lay hold of Him is not of yourself; it is, as our text says, "the gift of God." Every step you make on your spiritual pilgrimage is possible because of His grace. I know this teaching affronts modern-day men and women because they like to feel that they can "work their passage to heaven," as one preacher puts it. That is like someone in debt for a million pounds trying to get the one to whom he is indebted to accept his resources of a few pence as being sufficient to clear the debt. Listen to the Word of God again and let it sink deep into your soul: "For it is by grace you have been saved – it is the gift of God." Grace is a gift. You have not to achieve but simply receive.

O Father, once again my heart is moved as I realize it was not my merit but Your mercy, acting in grace, that drew You to me, and me to you. All honor and glory be to Your mighty and everlasting Name. Amen.

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