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Reconnecting with family is such a beautiful thing. The last two weeks I have been able to travel and see friends and family from a long way away. I spent some time in Michigan visiting with my …
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Reconnecting with family is such a beautiful thing. The last two weeks I have been able to travel and see friends and family from a long way away. I spent some time in Michigan visiting with my family and extended family. We all met up at Simpson Park Camp, a common meeting ground my family goes to every year. The distance is great and, although I wanted to go see them, the cost of travel was too great for me to be able to be with them. My dad extended a generous gift to allow me to close the distance and be with them for camp this year. It was an amazing week.
Why would we want God’s gift of grace? Do we need it? What is it exactly? The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 6:23.
The first part of this verse tells us that sin leads to death. The death it is talking about is separation from God forever. This part does not seem very encouraging. However, the second part says that God’s gift to us is eternal life, or life forever with him, through his son, Jesus Christ. God’s love and grace for people caught in sin is demonstrated by giving his son over to the punishment for sin that was required by the law God had originally established.
Why does God extend to us the gift of grace? It is not a reluctant offer from God. It is out of his compassionate and generous heart. God offers us grace because he wants us to be reconciled, or reconnected, to himself. We are not meant to live life apart from God, therefore, he has made a way for us to be in a relationship with him again. This is the offer of eternal life through Jesus, to close the distance between us and God forever.
When is the last time you respectfully, or disrespectfully, declined a gift? Gifts are meant to be received and received with gratitude. It is the same with God’s gift of grace. Each person must receive it personally and gratefully respond to the gift of salvation that they could never obtain for themselves. This is what it means to receive God’s salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. If you have received the gift then, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God,”Ephesians 2:8.
(Hunter Christner is associate staff at Campus Ventures in Powell.)
