THE EXPRESSION OF GRACE

Grace is an acronym for God's Riches At CHRIST's Expense. God expressed His grace to us when He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins. (John 3:16)

The story was told of a young girl who left work early so she could have some uninterrupted study time right before a final exam in religion class. She studied all night. When she arrived at class in the morning everybody was cramming as much last-minute info as their minds could handle.

The teacher walked in and said, "Let’s do a quick review before the test." They followed him through the review that was laid out in the study guide. As he covered item by item he finally jumped to issues the young girl had never heard covered in class.

Several hands went up, "We never had that information before." The teacher picked up the textbook and held it in his left hand and said, "Everything is in the book and you are clearly responsible for everything in the book." Who could argue with that!

Finally, it was time to take the test. The assistants passed out the test and the professor said, "Leave your test face down on the desk until everyone has one - I’ll tell you when to turn your paper over and start."

Two minutes later the class heard, "OK, you may start." When the young girl turned her test over, every answer was filled in! A note at the bottom of the last page said: "Your Final Exam is now over. All your answers are correct. You are blessed with an ’A’ on the final exam."

Every student reads the same thing and looked up at the professor in utter astonishment! When the professor was sure all eyes were on him, he said, "You passed the test for one reason only - because the Creator of the test took the test for you. All your study time, class time, and hard work in preparation for this exam did not help you get the "A". You have just experienced - GRACE."

CHRIST WAS DRIVEN BY GRACE WHEN HE DIED FOR US

The story of the girl illustrates the expression of the Grace of God; how CHRIST was driven by grace to do our tests of sin, righteousness, and judgment on our behalf and passed the good result to us. Everything the LORD JESUS CHRIST did when He died on the Cross and rose on the third day was never for Himself, but by grace, He did it all for us, sinful people, so that through faith in His name we would be saved and become God’s righteousness in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Ephesians 1:7 summarizes it. It states, "In Him (CHRIST) we have redemption, that is, our deliverance and salvation through His blood, which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin, in accordance with the riches of His grace! (The Amplified version, emphasis added)

Let's Pray:

Heavenly FATHER, I thank You for the amazing expression of Your grace in and through CHRIST. I embrace Your grace for my daily living and make the choice to express grace to everyone You bring across my path in JESUS' name. Amen.

JESUS REIGNS!

RAJI KEMI-RICH