Daily devotion – its all grace
I love reading the Book of Romans, For 7 chapters Paul teaches us the amazing grace and judgment of God, how no one has an excuse for denying God through ignorance. The 7 chapters also give an account of universal condemnation.
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Then Paul taught us divine redemption, faith’s justification, our sanctification, and finally a Christians tragic defeat as they try to live the regenerated life without the Regenerator. This is how chapter 7 ends….
Chapter 8 is God’s reply to this crying out of our trying and wanting to do the right things by God but failing.
In chapter 8 we now see a believer “in Christ”.
In chapter 7 this same one is a wretched man seeking deliverance.
But in chapter 8, Christ is working in us changing us from a victim to a victor.
In chapter 7, it is our trying to live for God with all the effort of our human personality.
But in chapter 8, it is the effect of the divine personality of Christ working in and through us in the person of the Holy Spirit.
We cannot get out of chapter 7 and all its struggles and good intentions but still failing, into chapter 8 without – Christ!!
Let’s see the first verse in Romans 8 – There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Chapter 8 begins with “no condemnation” and ends with “no separation”, while in-between is “no defeat”.
It brings us to the glorious word – GRACE… Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
During the last century, in the worst slum district of London, there was a social worker whose name was Henry Moorehosue. One evening as he was walking along the street he saw a little girl come out of a basement store carrying a pitcher full of milk. She was on her way home but when she was just a metres from Moorehouse, the little girl suddenly slipped and fell. Her hands relaxed their grip on the jug of milk and it fell on the sidewalk and broke. The milk ran down into the gutter, and the little girl began to cry in great distress as if her little heart would break.
Moorehouse quickly stepped up to see if she was hurt. He helped her to her feet saying, “Don’t cry, little girl.” But there was just no stopping her tears.
She kept saying over and over again, “My mummy will whip me; my mummy will whip me.”
Moorehouse said, “No, little girl, your mother won’t whip you. I’ll see to that. Look, the jug isn’t broken in many pieces.” As he stooped down beside her, picked up the pieces, and began to work as if he was putting the jug back together, the little girl stopped crying. She had hope. She came from a family in which pitchers or jugs had been mended before. Maybe this stranger could fix it. She watched as Moorehouse fitted several pieces together until, working too roughly, he knocked it apart again.
Once more she began to cry, and Moorehouse had to repeat, “Don’t cry, little girl. I promise you that your mother won’t whip you.”
Again, they gathered all the pieces, except for the handle. Moorehouse gave it to the little girl, and she tried to attach it. But, naturally all she did was knock it down again. This time there was no stopping her tears. She would not even look at the broken pieces lying on the sidewalk.
Finally, Moorehouse picked up the little girl in his arms, carried her down the street to a shop that sold crockery, and bought her a new jug.
Then, still carrying her, he went back to where the girl had bought the milk and had the new jug filled again with fresh milk to the brim. He asked the little girl where she lived. When he was told, he carried her to the house, set her down on the front step, and placed the full jug of milk in her hands. Then he opened the door for her. As she stepped in, he asked one more question, “Now, do you think your mother will whip you?”
He was rewarded for his trouble by a bright smile as she said to him, “Oh, no, sir, because it’s a lot better jug than we had before!”
This an illustration of the grace of God in your salvation. When our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned by disobeying God’s righteous law, that image was broken beyond repair. It cannot be put back together.
In our illustration, the little girl did nothing to deserve Moorehouse’s favour. She did not pay for the new jug and milk. She did not hire Moorehouse’s services; she had nothing to hire him with.
She did not even prevail upon his sympathies because she was pretty or miserable or homely. Moorehouse did as he did solely because it pleased him to do so. He did not expect a reward from the little girl’s parents.
When Jesus died and saved us by grace, He did so solely of His good pleasure.
Grace is wonderful! Do you have it?