Amazing Grace

Amazing disGrace, how dark the heart,
That beats inside of me,
I turn my back at every chance,
And nail you to that tree.
-Robert Gilliland

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

I think grace may be the most beautiful word in the English language. Without it there is no hope of salvation. There is no forgiveness. Apart from grace I deservedly spend eternity being tormented in hell. “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace.”

We live lives full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. We are gossips, slanderers, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. And that’s just the beginning. God is a just God who cannot let sin go unpunished. He must deal with sin. Sin must be atoned for.

Enter Jesus.

In what Martin Luther calls “the great exchange” God “made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is grace in action. Jesus came and exchanged places with us and in doing so became the worst of what we are. Jesus took our place on the cross, atoning for our sins. We take Jesus’ place in heaven.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
- John Newton