September 14: The Good News of Grace

Whenever our family remodels a part of our home, we love to take before and after pictures. It helps us see just how much change has taken place. Sometimes it’s hard to believe the pictures are of the same place!

In our passage today, the Apostle Paul is giving us pictures of our lives before and after Christ has entered in. Before Christ, we were dead in our sins, swept along by our culture, under the rule of Satan, addicted to our appetites, and under the judgment of God. It’s a tragic picture, but it’s the only world we knew apart from grace.

But then God enters into our stories. He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life, die in our place and for our sake on the cross, and rise again from the dead to make us right with the Father. It’s the greatest renovation in history! In mercy and love, God raised us from being dead in our sins and made us alive in Christ, tethering our lives to Him in glory forever. And all of it is by grace through faith. We didn’t work ourselves into salvation. Salvation came down to us as a free gift of God for those who believe!

The good news of Jesus, the Gospel message, is both humbling and encouraging at once. The Gospel first tells us we are far more sinful than we ever dared realize. We are hopelessly sinful in need of a Savior. The Gospel then tells us that in Jesus Christ we are far more loved than we ever dared hope. By grace through faith in Christ, we are beloved children of God, now and forever. So, the Gospel both humbles us to the ground and encourages us to the skies. It helps us live with humble courage. We have nothing to fear, nothing to hide, and nothing to prove. And we are loved more than we know.

That’s the ultimate before and after picture!