Waking Up to Grace

Romans 6:16-18

How long did you make it this morning before your first sin? Had you finished your shower or your cup of coffee? Did you survive your commute without sinning? Chances are your early interpersonal interactions offered plenty of opportunities to stumble: cruel thoughts, impatient words, gossip, slander, boasting. You can feel like a failure before the day even begins. But you live under grace! When you live under the law, you are constantly attacked by messages of condemnation: Those messages come from the enemy of your soul, Satan, dubbed “the accuser of our brothers” (Revelation 12:10). When you listen to his lies, you grow discouraged and even despondent. The purpose of the law was to reveal sin. Without the law, you would be oblivious to God’s standards of right and wrong—it teaches you and exposes the sin in your life. But hear this: None of God’s children are under the law. All who know Him through Christ are under grace. God has immersed you in a system of grace so that when He sees you, He sees what He is changing you to be and not what you are. What liberating news—you “are not under law but under grace” (6:15)! When you fall, get up. When you fail, don’t wallow in your failure, crushed by the weight of the law. God is transforming you. You are not in charge of your own transformation; He is (Philippians 1:6). And God is empowering you to live it out, giving you grace for today through His indwelling Spirit. So when you feel discouraged, don’t quit. You’re under His grace. Live like it!


Questions for further thought:
1. What messages does Satan use to discourage and defeat you? In contrast, when God looks at you, what does He see?
2. In what area of your life do you need to start living under His grace in the power of His Spirit?

Challenge: Resolve to let Christ fire up your faith and get you into the action. Pray for God’s strength as His Spirit works through you.