Justified by Grace

            Everyone should have the chance to stand before a judge and feel completely condemned.  You become powerless to defend yourself because some facts are true and others are not.  In Revelation 12:10 we learn: Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.  This fact has never brought more hope to my soul!

            I have had a taste of what I will feel when I stand before the ONE TRUE JUDGE and I am so grateful that the accuser has been hurled down on that day because I have accepted His Son as my defender.  The accuser will have many true facts to choose from when he accuses me.  The truths that I fear most are the words I have spoken.  The most frequent conscious sins I am aware of come forth from my own tongue.  Matthew 12:36 literally haunts me:  But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  I’m doomed!  Sometimes I become aware of my wrong words even as they are escaping my lips.  Other times, the Holy Spirit brings them to mind later.  I can’t even number the infinity of words I have spoken that were not glorifying to God. (As I think of this: Is it really fair that science has shown that women speak so many more words that men in one day?  I trust God has a plan to balance that out!)

            What sings to my soul is the enormity of being justified by grace given by the One True Judge, who alone has the knowledge to condemn me, through the blood of His Son.  The ONE TRUE JUDGE has given every human being a life to live.  He has given instructions about how to live that life.  He tells us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). I can honestly tell you that for many years my earnest desire has been to be holy.  I don’t think of holiness every moment of every day, but I have developed spiritual disciplines in my life that call me to at least think about God more frequently.  Yet I remain so far from holiness that the holier I get the more unholy I see myself. 

            This is why justification by grace is so hopeful to my soul.  Accepting God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ means that when I stand before the One True Judge there will be no accuser of the enormous unholy actions my lifetime has contained.  For all who come to faith in Jesus Christ the sins we have committed are blotted out.  Our judgement is not about what we did wrong, rather what we did right.  I’m not sure I’m ready for that judgement either, but I will strive to be faithful to carry out all God has called me to do while living on this earth.  One call I received over a decade ago was to write a weekly devotion on the internet.  Shortly afterwards the company I worked for started a website for women and asked me to write a weekly 800-word devotion.  After the company was sold I started my own website.  Writing weekly devotions is an assignment from God.  He has asked me to let others know about a spiritual lesson He has taught me that week. 

            Because of Jesus Christ, my focus no longer has to be on defending myself.  Jesus Christ defends me from the wrath my own sins deserve.  Being justified by grace helps me move away from focusing on what I cannot change, rather asking God how I can contribute to making this world a better place.  My soul sings because I am justified by grace.  My favorite verse in the whole Bible is Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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