Daily Devotionals

Pressure Point Week 5: Monday

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8-9

I recently heard a story where a customer at a coffee shop gave their barista a 1,000-dollar tip. The customer who gave the tip simply wanted to be generous. Of course, this generosity stunned the barista. In fact, at first, she told the customer she could not accept this gift. Why? She had not done anything to deserve or earn the generous tip. She had a skewed understanding of grace. After all, by definition, grace is getting something that we do not deserve. 

Before we can grow in our faith, we must understand God's grace. Paul explained God's grace in Ephesians 2 when he wrote, "God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift of God" (verse 8). We cannot earn grace. It is a gift that we did nothing to earn or deserve. We have to understand that His grace saves us through faith. He gives us the gift; faith means accepting the gift.

You, my friend, are a beneficiary of God's grace. He offers the gift of salvation because of grace, not because of anything we have done to earn it or deserve it. But, simply because He loves us, we get to accept His grace by our faith. As the old, familiar song says, God's grace truly is "amazing."

Moving toward action

Take a few minutes to think about grace. Write down the definition of grace in your journal or a notebook: "Grace is getting something that you don't deserve." Then, think about how you respond to grace. Do you struggle to accept getting something you have not earned or deserved? Why or why not? What freedom do you find in knowing you cannot earn or deserve grace? When you finish, write a prayer of thanksgiving, thanking God for His grace that He makes readily available to us.

Going Deeper

Ephesians 2:1-22

"Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil-the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else.

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

11 Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called "uncircumcised heathens" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit."