Devotion: God Is Not Angry With You

One of the hardest concepts for many believers to understand is the concept of God’s grace.  Grace is this wonderful free gift that God has given to us.  And because of this wonderful gift of grace, we have been saved.  “Because of his kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ.  And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it” (Ephesians 2:8-9 TLB).  God’s grace is extended to us because of what Jesus Christ did.  It is not extended to us because of something that we did; it was a free gift from God.

“But God is so rich in mercy; he loved us so much that even though we were spiritually dead and doomed by our sins, he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead—only by his undeserved favor have we ever been saved—and lifted us up from the grave into glory along with Christ, where we sit with him in the heavenly realms—all because of what Christ Jesus did.  And now God can always point to us as examples of how very, very rich his kindness is, as shown in all he has done for us through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-7 TLB).

All of this “amazing grace” is given to us free from God and we do not need to do anything to earn it; we just need to accept it.  Many believers are still trying to make themselves righteous with God by keeping the old Jewish law but it is actual grace that makes us right with God, not by keeping the law.

“The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).  “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law.  And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law.  For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16 NLT).

So, trying to keep the law will not make you right with God.  Did you know, “the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is” (James 2:10 TLB)?  And, there is no amount of work a person can do to earn his or her righteousness.  It all comes through the grace of God.

“We were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, and slaves to our desires and various pleasures too.  We were spending our lives in evil behavior and jealousy.  We were disgusting, and we hated other people.  But when God our savior’s kindness and love appeared, he saved us because of his mercy, not because of righteous things we had done.  He did it through the washing of new birth and the renewing by the Holy Spirit, which God poured out upon us generously through Jesus Christ our savior.  So, since we have been made righteous by his grace, we can inherit the hope for eternal life” (Titus 3:3-7 RSV).

So it by his grace, the free gift, that we are saved through faith, faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10).

“And he guarantees right up to the end that you will be counted free from all sin and guilt on that day when he returns” (I Corinthians 1:4-9 TLB).  “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  Now we live with great expectation” (I Peter 1:3 NLT).

While this commentary may not give you the complete understanding of God’s grace, it will get you headed in the right direction.  Just remember, “God is not angry with you.”  We pray that this message will give you a different perspective as well as add to your understanding.  May this inspirational message bless you abundantly as well as inform you.  If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW