This is grace. This is Jesus

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be saved? Like your soul being saved forever? If you have, I may have the answer you've been searching for. 

 

Scriptures in the Bible say that we are saved by grace, and that grace is the undeserved favor of God. It means He reached out to, and set up a way for, you to be saved.

 

You see, God's heart is for people but the bridge in which He reaches people is love and grace. He requires no first steps from the people He is wanting to save. Jesus simply wants a response. A response to a free gift; the most beautiful gift anyone could ever receive - salvation.

 

God is not out to get us. He is simply waiting for us to return home. To turn around from our sinful ways and turn to Him. 

 

There's a parable in the book of Luke that tells a story of two sons who had a rich father. One day, the youngest son asked for his inheritance and the father graciously obliged and gave it to him. The young son then went off to a foreign land and lived lavishly and spent all of his money on partying and prostitutes. After a while, he found himself in a rather awful spot, broke and broken. He found a job where he would feed pigs, but this job paid so poorly that he actually started eating the pig food because it was all he could find to eat.

 

Then a light bulb went off in his head and he thought he could go back home and beg his dad to be a servant. He figured he screwed up so badly that he wouldn’t even think about trying to be his son anymore. Scripture goes on to record that, as he went on home, the father saw him from far away and ran to him. He hugged him, kissed him and threw a party. The father was overjoyed with the return of his son, so much so, that he overlooked and forgave the wrong he had done. He celebrated the fact that his son returned instead of scolding his son for leaving.

 

This is grace. This is Jesus. 

 

And this is exactly how Jesus sees us. He is looking for the people He has died for. He is searching and when He sees them, even at a great distance, He runs to them. Not to put them down, but to lift them up. Not to condemn and scold them, but to restore and celebrate life with them. This is the love that emulates from the heart of God. This is the DNA that He puts into us when we get saved. We are called to reconcile the sinner to the savior. 

 

 

Cristian Alva

Youth Pastor