By Katy Mariotti

Beautifully Undeserved

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 New International Version

I recently had the blessing of receiving a free meal. It wasn’t just a casual free meal, either, it was a multi-course free meal in a really nice restaurant. We were told we could order WHATEVER we want, and we certainly did. It was a ton of fun and extremely delicious. I pretended I was used to eating expensive meals while at the same time taking pictures of every gorgeous course.

Despite the joy of the situation, there was throughout the experience a little doubt in the back of my mind. “Is this meal REALLY free? Did they REALLY mean order whatever you want? Am I really the kind of person who can eat in a restaurant like this?”

I think sometimes we get the same doubt in our heads about God’s grace. “Did He really die for me?  Even though I make mistakes all the time? Am I really the type of person who deserves God’s grace?” But the Bible tells us that the point is that we DON’T deserve God’s grace, but He gives it to us anyway. Scripture says:

^“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. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV

We haven’t done anything to earn God’s grace. It’s our “free meal,” and we don’t have to doubt that He means what He says. The good works we do are not to earn God’s grace, but in response to a God who loves us and wants what is best for us. Let us live in gratitude, fully enjoying the blessings He gives us and striving to live the life He wants for us.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado