How Much Grace?

"..the immeasurable riches of his grace..." Eph 2:7

Have you ever wondered how much grace was required to save you? This probably not a question we consider everyday, but while studying Eph 2, I've begun to grasp the shear expansiveness of the grace and mercy of God. I do not pretend to know all the dimensions, all the facets of the grace that has been shown to those who are in Christ. But, for a few moments, I think would be worthwhile to consider at least the boundaries of the ocean that we call grace.

First, consider that we have rebelled against a perfectly holy God. It is not that He is slightly more pure than we are or that we owe Him some of our allegiance. His pureness is complete; His authority beyond dispute.So any thought, any action, any thing that diverts us from Him pours into the accounting of our debt before Him. Add to this the reality that we don't start with a balance of zero, but rather we are in debt before we are born and our need for grace grows even higher.

Next consider that any means we have to pay off our debt, our offense, our treason before God is in non-negotiable currency. Its like trying to payoff a credit card bill with Confederate money. We can't do it. Because we are broken and the whole universe is fractured, nothing we posses could ever put even a single drop into chasm that separates us from God.

Finally (for this blog, not for listing the deep well of our need for grace) consider the fact that we really don't care. This what could easily be called the "death spiral"of comfortable Christianity. (And I'm a charter member!) When we lose track of how offensive our sins are, when we forget that our rebellion isn't just against a nation or a president, when we begin to think that somehow we are, in a small way, indispensable to God, our focus shifts off of Christ, off of grace, off of the power of the Spirit and on to us and our abilities and our techniques and our plans and agendas. And, this is danger of Heb 2:1 and Gal 3:3.

So everyday even those of us who have walked with Christ for years need more grace, because we keep digging a deeper hole.

Consider the height and the length and the depth and the breadth of your sin and rebellion (or indifference and self righteousness and hypocrisy and lovelessness) Consider that you have nothing to offer Christ and the you are (at best) a lost sheep or the prodigal child (Lk 15) And consider that while you are all of this and more, Christ died not in spite of who you were (and are) but because of you were (and are), And, consider the fact that when Christ died, all your sins were future sins. Nothing we do is beyond his loving, immeasurable grace.

To God Alone be the Glory