Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast."
KJV
God's grace
is an amazing gift. Grace is a beneficial disposition towards
us that compelled God to act on our behalf. Man sinned and
forever forfeited fellowship with God and was doomed to eternal
condemnation. The only way we could be restored to fellowship
was for God to die in our place. God was under no obligation
to provide us with salvation. Instead of letting us suffer
eternal separation from Him, He graciously sent His Son into the
World where He willingly offered His life in the place of ours as
payment for the penalty we deserved.
God
graciously agreed to accept the death, by murder, of His only
begotten Son, by the hands of those Jesus came to save, for sins
Jesus was completely innocent of, as the penalty for the sins of all
mankind, forever. The grace that compelled a loving God to do
that for us can never be payed for, can never be earned and can
never be deserved. God's grace is God's gift to give and His
alone.
Everything
God does to make salvation possible is grace. Grace is
God reaching down to fallen man and providing a hand up with hope.
Faith is fallen man, reaching for God's gracious hand up, in Hope.
That is
something you can believe.
