Affirmation of God: I have been accepted and set free by Jesus Christ.

I love the way John Baker puts this in the Celebrate Recovery lesson 18 on Grace. The G in the acrostic of Grace stands for GOD’s gift. Mr. Baker says: “Grace is a gift. Grace cannot be bought. It is freely given by God to you and me. 

Roman’s 3:24 is the source of this affirmation of the day. But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins. (Contemporary English Version) 

Who needs grace? ALL OF US. Let’s be real here. No hypocrisy, no pretense, no dishonesty. Saved and unsaved, believer or non-believer, friend or foe there is none who is righteous. As it says in Romans 3:10: “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 

Romans 3:11: “There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 

Romans 3:12: “They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 

But wait a minute God. I am trying to seek after you, and I am trying to do good…I,I,I….There I go again. That is the point of grace, isn’t it? It is NOT about what I have done. 

Don’t we always come back to Romans 3:23 when we want to justify ourselves and our sins? Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

Yes, we have. Yes, we will continue to fall short. Let’s not lie to ourselves or others. We need God’s daily bread of grace. We need His forgiveness of our trespasses today and every day. This is not a negative, this is a blessing! Because or what God did in the person of Jesus Christ, I am restored and set free day after day after day. 

That is grace. God’s gift to us. All I have to provide is my sinful nature and my faith. He provides the rest. May we humble ourselves and be o so thankful for this gift we have received through Jesus Christ. 

I do NOT understand this process. But Paul makes it clear here in Romans 3 that it doesn’t really matter what I understand. He told us in 3:11 that there is really none who understand, we are human after all. I also love the 3:3 where he says: It is true that some of them did not believe the message. But does this mean that God cannot be trusted, just because they did not have faith? (CEV) 

So whether we choose to believe it or not does not change the truth. God is God and God did offer His son Jesus Christ to redeem us and set us free. Do I understand it? Do you have to understand it?  As one who has received this gift of grace I just want to tell everyone. I can’t explain it, I can’t understand, I just have experienced a grace and filling of the Spirit that is beyond my understanding. Thank you God for your gift of Jesus Christ. Thank you for accepting me and setting me free. 

Where are you in your understanding of Grace? Where is your heart and head after reading Roman’s 3? 

Tom Raines

Christian Affirmations 4 Life