Grace - Member Devotional
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Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We love a story of a hero’s sacrifice. We cannot get enough of the “hero sacrifices their life for others” narrative. In every story where the hero jumps in front of a bullet, or surrenders themself over to the enemy, or volunteers as tribute, the hero sacrifices themself for the good guys. Never in those stories does the hero die for people who hate them, and are actively working against them. Imagine if *spoilers ahead* Harry Potter died to save the Death Eaters. Or if Obi Wan raised his lightsaber in surrender to ensure the Empire’s reign. Or if Iron Man used the Infinity Stones to keep Thanos’s army safe. Those would be infuriating stories! They would make no sense to us, and they would anger us. But Romans 5:8 tells us that that is the kind of grace we have received from God. That while we hated Christ, while we nailed him to a tree, while we were fighting against him, He gave his life so that we might be free from sin, and live fully with him.
I grew up in the church, in a Christian family. I grew up with words like “grace” and “unconditional love” all around me, they were the air I breathed. And while I am grateful for my upbringing, I still never understood what a free gift Christ’s sacrifice was. I carried around the lesson that all those hero’s sacrifice stories taught: that people only make sacrifices for the good guys. And I never did feel like I was the good guy. I did not love God’s Word, I loved to rely on my own strength, I harboured hatred, fear, lust, pride, and entitlement in my heart all hours of the day. And, knowing I could not be one of the good guys with all this sin in my heart, I tried to earn my way to the good guy side of the spectrum. I tried to perform what I thought was the right way to live as a Christian, and could not bear to truly look at the depth of my sin, for fear of seeing just how much God must hate me, and how outside of his grace I must be.
But Romans 5:8 points us to the counterintuitive reality that God’s grandest display of love came before our obedience. God’s big saving sacrifice came while we were still the bad guys. Understanding how God’s sacrifice is different than the archetypal hero’s sacrifice frees us from needing to earn our salvation. This undeserved grace reassures us that there is nothing we can do to lose that grace, because there was nothing we did to earn it. God’s grace was always an expression of His own character, not our merit. And since God’s grace depends on His immutable character and not on your merit, you can freely acknowledge your sin and shortcomings, knowing that nothing hidden in your heart is more powerful than the grace of God. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
In what ways do you try to earn God’s love and approval? How would accepting the unmerited nature of grace free you to live your life more fully for Christ?