Romans 4:¹⁶ “So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it… if we have faith like Abraham’s…”

So far in our study of the fundamentals of grace, we have seen that G is God’s Gift To Me. R is Received By Faith. Yes, we will get baptized following Jesus’ example. And we will take Holy Communion because Jesus says we should. However, grace is neither received by baptism nor by communion. Grace is received by faith. Ephesians 2:^8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV). If grace was by works, imagine how unpleasant heaven would be. People will be walking around showing off their works and mansions. And those who made it by the skin of their teeth will be hiding in corners because the big boys are around.

Guess what? Everybody, from who you would consider the “biggest saint” to who you would consider the “smallest saint”, received God’s grace by faith for free. The truth is there isn’t anything like a big saint or a small saint. We all are saved by grace. Heaven is an equalizer. We will all be joyful and grateful that we made it to heaven, no matter how big we are on earth. When you get to heaven, there are three main surprises you are going to experience. The first is you will be surprised by the people that you don’t expect to see in heaven, but they are there. You will see people in heaven and you will be shocked that they made it to Heaven, because by your own judgment, they should not be in heaven. But God is bigger than you.

Do not expect that God will be reduced to your level of pettiness. Sometimes, we don’t even expect God to bless certain people because we are not happy with them. But God blesses them anyway. Who can query Him? That is why you have to stay humble. You will see people in Heaven and you will be shocked that they made it to Heaven. There are people that I pray make it to heaven because they are souls that God loves and died for. For example, Fela, a lot of people will be shocked to see Fela in heaven. The second surprise is the people you don’t in Heaven. Your third surprise is that you yourself made it to Heaven. The gratitude flowing from everyone is one of the things that will make Heaven beautiful. Imagine the Queen of England, if she makes it to Heaven, on her knees thanking God. Everyone who makes it to heaven has one song on their lips and it is a song of gratitude. Romans 4:¹⁶ “So people receive God’s promise by having faith. This happens so the promise can be a free gift…” (NCV).

Prayer: Father, I thank You for the gift of Your saving grace in my life. Help me to stay humble and grateful for Your grace overflow in my life, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!

Ephesians 2:⁸ “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”

The concluding thought from yesterday’s devotional was that every other religion can be summed up in just one word, “Do”. You have to pray five times a day. You have to offer this ritual or sacrifice to earn favour. You have to do this and do that to get this and get that. On the other hand, the summary of Christianity and faith in Christ Jesus can also be summarized in one word, “Done”. It is finished! Tetelestai! That is the summary of being a Christian. It is done. The sacrifice for your sin is done – paid for. The reconciliation with God is done. The favour, blessings, and all that you need are done!

2 Corinthians 1:²⁰ “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (NKJV). Do versus Done, what choice would you make? To keep doing or to come into what has been done for you, is your choice. What do you want? Romans 3:²⁴ “…all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift… through Jesus Christ.” (NCV, emphasis added). Years ago, I had a friend who converted from Islam to Christianity and his brother said to him, “How can you become a Christian? I don’t understand this grace thing.” So, he tried to explain to his brother. His brother said, “Let me ask you a question. If I kill people, burn villages, rob banks and one second after I surrender to Jesus, they chase me and kill me I get to go to heaven?” “Yes”, he responded, “As long as you surrender to Jesus, and ask Him to forgive your sins and come into your life. You are saved.”

His brother said, “No, I cannot accept that. What happens to all the bad things I have done? Don’t I have to atone for it? Don’t I have to do things that will make God happy? Don’t I have to prepare for paradise? I don’t understand it.” The truth is you may not understand it but that is God’s grace. There are three things about God’s grace you need to know. You need to do the first one, God has done the second one, and then you need to do the third one. The first thing you need to do for you to experience the salvation grace of God is to get lost. And we all were lost, you don’t need to try to get lost in this world. The Bible says in sin did my mother conceive me.

Oh, that was easy. The first one check. The second one is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Done, it is a finished, check. The third one is you have to receive it. And that brings us to the R of Grace. G is God’s Gift To Me. R is Received By Faith. Grace is not received by baptism. Grace is not received by communion. The grace of God is received by faith.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for the gift of God’s grace to me and I receive it by faith, in Jesus Name. Amen!