ALL IS A GIFT
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Opening Prayer
Father, meet with me through your Word today. Speak to me and show me how I can better serve you.
Read ROMANS 4:1—12
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Romans
Romans 4
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?
2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about–but not before God.
3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Reflect
‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us…’ (1 John 4:10). Spend a few minutes basking in the truth that before you loved God, he loved you.Sometimes we may come across an advertisement that promises us a free gift. The offer may sound too good to be true—because usually it is. It turns out that to receive the ‘free’ gift, we must do something. When we read the small print, we find we have to buy something or sign up for a mailing list, and only then will we receive the gift. What is offered as a free gift turns out to be more like a payment (v. 4)!
There is no small print in God’s offer of forgiveness and friendship (vv. 7, 8). We do not have to work at being good, giving away our money, saying our prayers, attending church, or witnessing to our friends to earn God’s favor. No. These things all have their place, but like Abraham’s circumcision (v. 10), they are a response to being saved, not a reason for it.
Salvation is not a payment earned by earnest devotion; it’s a free gift. We truly are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Apply
‘Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more… And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.’* How easy do you find it to believe that?
Closing prayer
Lord God, I didn’t earn it, but you freely gave me life in your Son; your mercy freed me from the death I deserved. Thank you for the righteousness that is now mine in Christ; please use my life as a sacrifice of praise.
*Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Zondervan, 1997), 70.
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