Devotional: Grace means that God already loves

The minister’s car wouldn’t start so he called the garage to come and tow it in for repairs.

When the truck driver appeared at his house to get the car, the minister said, “I hope you go easy on me. You know I’m only a poor preacher.”

“I know,” replied the tow truck driver, “I’ve heard you preach.”

There are “poor” preachers, and then there are “rich” preachers — I don’t know which Paul was, but I can tell you, he preached with all his heart the gospel message, for as he put it,

“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me…” (Ephesians 3:77)

Paul’s calling was to proclaim God’s gospel as a servant, and he preached it to the best of his ability.

As believers in Christ, we should be doing the same.

But notice what Paul says the reason as a servant he proclaims the gospel — his says its “by the gift of God’s grace given me.”

Paul understands its all about the grace of God that makes him want to proclaim the good news.

Author Phillip Yancey describes grace this way: “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more — no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less — no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.”

If you and I ever can grip onto the measuring cup of how much God loves His children because of His grace, we will, like Paul, eagerly desire with all our being to tell our loved ones (and even those we just like) the incredible Good News of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Billy Blackmon, pastor

Highland Southern Baptist Church

This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 4:38 AM with the headline "Devotional: Grace means that God already loves."