Written by Pastor Mark Driskill
October 21, 2011

Read Ephesians 4:7

“But Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

The song “Amazing Grace” could be known as the national anthem of the church of Jesus Christ. To say that God’s wondrous favor bestowed upon sinners is amazing is as much an understatement as if one said “The Ocean is big.”,/em> Despite this however we too often find ourselves living like spiritual misers, afraid to step out on the love of Christ ourselves, to say nothing of sharing it with others. If only we could begin to grasp the vastness of God’s grace toward us we would stop living in fear and become as bold as lions for our Lord. In today’s passage we get a glimpse of the magnitude of this Grace in which we stand. In what ways is the Grace of God truly amazing?

• It is amazing in its individuality. “But grace was given to each one of us…” Our God is individually gracious. It is one thing to realize that “God so loved the world” and as a part of the world his grace includes me by default. It is quite another to realize as Paul did, “But when he who had set me apart before I was born and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me…” Oh friends understand today that you are not loved by default, as some number in God’s system of salvation. God looked you in the eye before time began and said, “you are worth dying for.” He knows your name, your heart, and soul. God knows you better than you know yourself. The grace of God has worked, and is still working in your life to draw you deeper and closer into Christ as his special child. The fact that the God of the universe can even be aware of me in a world of over 7 billion people, much less have a plan for me, is unfathomable. I have given up trying to understand; now I just bask in it.
• It is amazing in its grandeur. “according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”  As individual as his grace is it is also larger than life. Many people make the mistake of measuring God’s grace by their experience rather than by the cross of Christ. We base the measure of God’s concern for us by our own merit rather than by the merit of Christ and his death. Listen, your salvation did not come about because of you but because of Christ’s death. If that is true why do you still think you have to live up to a certain level of goodness in order for God’s grace to be available to you now? Why do you still live by superstitions, like, “If I forget to confess one sin I may go to hell for that sin.” You limit God’s grace to your religiosity rather than by the cross. You also have a list of sins you imagine God cannot or will not forgive. You have failures you have not brought to the Lord because you think his grace just won’t go that far. Or perhaps you give much grace to yourself but can’t imagine God giving grace to someone who has done what you consider detestable. You measure grace by your own experience rather than by the work of Christ on the cross! Such hypocrisy it is to sing amazing grace over your life then spew judgment over the sinner outside of your circle or respectability. God loves those you despise, and he loves you even though you despise those he died for. We must step back from our narrow tunnel of grace and scan the immeasurable horizon of the Grace that came through the cross.

What Jesus did was greater in power than any of us can imagine. His infuriating grace goes beyond our experience, or preferences. This grace is truly amazing. Today measure the grace of God, not by your two fingers stretched out across your favorite Bible verse, but by Jesus sinless arms stretching as far as the east is from the west. Rejoice in his truly amazing grace.

Pastor Mark Driskill
Web Minister of Begotten By the Word web ministry
See our website at http://ourchurch.com/member/b/bbtw
and
www.facebook.com (to group “begotten by the word”)
Begotten By the Word is a ministry of Helping Hands Christian resources-Evangelism Outreach
www.hhcr05.org
(Feel free to copy in any way that will bring glory to God and further his kingdom.)