When I was growing up, our home was a place of warmth and love and high expectations. However, there was very little in the way of words of affirmation or positive encouragement. We felt that we could never be good enough. Whatever, we achieved as kids, or in school; or whatever grades we worked hard for, our parents would say, “Well, if you had applied yourself better you could have gotten a B+.” And the next time, they would say, when the B+ was brought home, “You could have done better and gotten an A.” There were never any words like, “You did so well. We’re so proud of the extra effort you put in. We know that next time you’ll even do better.” So, I came to believe that no matter how much effort I put forth, I would never be able to be all that God or other’s wanted me to be. This made me afraid to try. I felt like giving up.

Grace was a foreign concept to me. If it meant anything, it was for my past failures, but never for my present or future realities. So when I came across this text in Romans 5:1-2, which says: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” I could hardly believe that one could stand faithful, have a sense of making it with God, or with my parents, or teachers, or even my friends. How could I “Stand”, or be accepted if I could never be what I needed to be in myself? It is such a hopeless and defeatist way of believing. But this text brought me hope, acceptance, and a sense that even when I fail, I am not a failure in God’s eyes, that I still have a future and that He sees me as being perfect…in Him, of course…but nonetheless “making it.”

For us who feel we have to make it on our own, the Judgement is a fearful thing. But God says, He stands up for us! And if we believe this, that He does, and we STAND in this GRACE, we have NOTHING to fear. We are secure in Him. And should we stumble and fall, we are not rejected. We are loved and restored by His power. We are able to move forward with hope as we remain STANDING in God’s GRACE which makes us acceptable, and victorious!

Dear friends, please make this text the theme of your life: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

--Pastor Ben Moor

Standing in God’s Grace with you.