Weekly Update 4.3.17

For it is by grace you have been saved—Ephesians 2:8

 Yesterday we explored the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and learned an important lesson about grace.    It is so easy for us today to forget about the amazing concept of grace.  We sing about grace almost every week…the idea of grace is woven into so many of our hymns and praise songs.  Yet, oftentimes we forget the true depths of God’s grace.  When you stop and think about all of the things He has given you that you do not deserve, the list is almost endless.  When we realize what we do deserve as fallen, sinful human beings and we compare this to all that God has blessed us with, it can be pretty overwhelming!  But, sadly, it can also be easy to overlook.  Our busy lives, our society’s call to entitlement that slowly creeps in on us, and our own complacency can easily take our eyes off of God’s grace and lower them to what we think we deserve.  Yet we deserve nothing!  God, in His infinity mercy and grace, gives us everything because of His love for us!  How do we respond to the depth of this love?  Nothing short of our entire life will do!

This week, as we come to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, I would encourage you to spend some time reflecting on your gifts from God.  It is so easy to linger on all the things we’re currently struggling with, all of our needs and wants.  Yet God is with us and is blessing us even in the middle of our current storms.  When we look for His grace, we’ll see it everywhere!  Every breath is a gift of His grace.  As we approach the celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, let us enter the Easter season fully responding to all Christ has won us on the cross…let us come worshiping Him for His gifts of justification, His word, mercy, grace, and forgiveness!

 

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan