Earthly Eyes or
Heavenly Vision?

I ran across the following statement from Billy Graham that is a good reminder that there is an impactful difference between viewing God’s grace with earthly eyes rather than a heavenly vision. Are we looking at God through our expectations, goals and ‘rights’ or through God’s expectations and plans?

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“Your human mind, with its philosophy of an equal return for favors done, can hardly comprehend the full meaning of this grace of God. But when you catch, by the inspiration of God, its full meaning, you will leave the limits of human reasoning and revel in the spiritual riches of divine truth and privilege.” – Billy Graham

 

Now take that knowledge and combine it with the truth that God is love. WOW! We have a God who knows absolutely everything about us—and yet He loves us perfectly. He doesn't love us because He doesn't know our faults. He loves us knowing everything about us. How blessed are we to be called His children!

 

Grace is undeserved favor, blessing or kindness. In human terms, we can see people extend grace or we can show grace to others. However, the word grace in relationship to God’s character takes on a much more powerful meaning. Grace is God choosing to bless us rather than curse us as our sin deserves.
 

We would all agree that God is gracious, but do we consistently remember that we have done NOTHING and can do NOTHING to deserve God’s favor. That can be difficult for us to fully accept because our earthly way of thinking tends to keep score. We naturally think in terms of earning, deserving, fairness, and receiving something in return for what we have done. We may not say it out loud, but sometimes our thinking can sound like -- ​“I'm a good person” , “I'm trying my best”, “I go to church”, “I help other people”,

“I give money to charity”, “I do more good than bad”.

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But that isn't the picture Scripture gives us at all. In Romans 3:23-25 we read that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It doesn’t say some have really fallen short and some have only fallen a little short. All means ALL.

 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,24and are justified by His Grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.” - Romans 3:23-25

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“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”– Ephesians 2:8-9

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God is gracious, but He is also righteous and just. Our sin could not simply be ignored as though it didn't matter. There needed to be a propitiation (atonement) for our sins and the cross demonstrates both the seriousness of our sin and the incredible depth of God's grace. Christ became the sacrifice through which our redemption is possible.

We can understand grace intellectually and still slip back into living as though God's favor must somehow be earned. The more we commune with God and know Him personally through the Holy Spirit, the more we will recognize how undeserving we are—and at the same time, how incredible His grace is.

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Personal Reflection – Take time to meditate on God’s grace and the questions below.

• Am I rejoicing and praising Him that I need to do NOTHING to earn God’s favor?
• Am I acting as if I believe that I need to do NOTHING to earn God’s favor?