Amazing Grace!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24

One of the most known and loved hymns in the world is "Amazing Grace" and rightly so. It is an awesome song and one of my favorites as well. But how many of us stop and think of what it means? 

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me...

I know without a doubt that I am a wretch, in fact we all are. I struggle with so many sins and each day no matter how hard I try to live for Christ, I fall. Over and over again I fall and I don’t mean literally; however I do happen to be one of the most accident prone people you will probably ever meet, I mean fall in sin.

It doesn't matter how much I strive to be like Jesus, every night I come to Him on bended knee like the prodigal child I am asking forgiveness because once more I fell, and I will continue to do this every day until I die, but that is where grace comes in. Like the two verses above say, we can never earn our salvation, but it is given to us through God’s grace. Grace is His way of saying “You can do nothing to save yourself, but you don’t need to because I got this, I have done it all for you. I gave my son for you so that you can come and receive this free gift.”

Grace is truly is one of God’s most amazing gifts. It is the absolute reward of God, given generously to free us from sin, to heal our wounds, to restore our soul, to cleanse our hearts and to make us new again in Christ. There is no debt, no works, no striving, no burden, just favor and acceptance from God.

Now that does not mean that just because we will never be able to measure up to Jesus, that we should stop trying, we need to continue to live for Him as much as we can. I am saying that we need to remember and be thankful for His saving grace that allows us to continue to be forgiven.

And we should not feel guilty about God’s grace, as long as we are doing what we can to live for Him. It is not meant to make us feel bad about receiving it, nor is it meant for us to become arrogant and expect it. Instead, we need to always be aware of how wonderful and generous our Lord is for providing this amazing gift of grace to us and be thankful for it.

Let me remind you again that it is a gift, meaning it is free! It doesn't cost us a thing, just our true belief and faith in Jesus and acceptance of Him into our hearts. So not only can we never earn it, but we can’t buy it either. He just hands it over because of His love and mercy for us. How awesome is that!

Lord, I come to You with a humble heart filled with thanksgiving and praise. I am so thankful for Your never-ending love, mercy and grace. There is nothing I have done that is or ever will be good enough, yet here You have done everything for me. I am broken, but I know that You can make me whole. I am empty, but I know that You can fill me up. I am bound and enslaved, but I know that You can set me free. I pray that I never lose sight of this gift You so graciously give to me and that I continue to live for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Click Here for the song... Amazing Grace  - Not the one you think! :) 

The song will not embed for some reason so I am posting the link instead. This song is special to me as I am one of the women singing it. Our choir in high school recorded this back when I was a senior. This version is different than you are probably used to hearing, but it is my favorite arrangement by Stephen Hatfield. If you notice the music playing in the background is the original version while the singing is the other version. They compliment each other beautifully. I hope you enjoy and praise God while listening. :)