How do we communicate what Christians mean when we talk about grace? The letter to the Ephesians gives us the key when the author describes being saved “by grace…through faith” as “the gift of God” (2:8). Grace is a gift from God, freely given, freely received.
Martin Luther emphasized the importance of understanding this gift on an intimate, personal level. He once wrote that Christians, in faith, receive Christ “as a gift, as a present that God has given you and that is your own.” The bold proclamation that “God so loved the world” is incomplete, until we also hear that God so loved us: you and me! When my Great-Great-Aunt Anna died, the first words of the pastor’s sermon were: “Jesus died and rose again so that Anna might live!” Yes, God so loved the world! And yes, God so loved Anna! And yes, God so loves you and me!
This message is excerpted from “The gift of grace” by Kathryn A. Kleinhans in the September/October 2024 Gather magazine. Today is Reformation Day. Today is Halloween in the United States.
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