All Is Grace
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Romans 5:1-2
There are so many things about Romans 5 that move me, but as I sit here today reading and re-reading this passage, I cannot help but be overwhelmed by the goodness and kindness of God towards us.
God sent Jesus, who as 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus came and took on every bad and sinful thing we have ever done and will do in order that we might receive grace, mercy, and freedom from sin. He doesn’t ask us to clean ourselves up before we come to Him; He doesn’t even ask us to believe in Him before He dies for us! He already did it, knowing full well we had the power to reject Him in spite of what He did. Yet because of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are able to turn towards God and receive him by faith, or trust that Jesus is who He says He is (fully God).
And as we, in faith, accept Jesus as Lord, we are given the greatest gift: peace with God, through Jesus’s death on the cross. Where our sin used to mean God was unable to engage with us, now when God looks at us, He sees His son, and we gain access to His grace, that beautiful gift that pardons us from our sins and reconciles us to God!
I leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning. I first read his book The Ragamuffin Gospel the summer I worked at camp, and was so changed by his words. In his memoir All is Grace, Manning sums up Romans 5:1-2 with so fittingly:
“My message, unchanged for more than fifty years, is this: God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be. It is the message of grace…A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five… A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands, or buts… This grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us… Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough… Jesus is enough.”
May you be sure of God’s great love for you today and filled with peace and you realize you are free to live your life under grace. Grace is enough!