Thanksgiving: Grace

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
  I once was lost, but now am found;
 was blind, but now I see.”  As I reflect on another year I am thankful for God’s grace in my life.  It is amazing.  Why? I thank God for saving me from my sins.  “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:9-10)  I see each day more sin in my life from what I think, say, and do.  I know I need the forgiveness of my sin that only comes through the shed blood of Jesus Christ – “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22b).  I am thankful for saving grace!

I am a new creation in Christ, but daily battle indwelling sin (Romans 7:14-20).  More times than not I live for self rather than loving God and others (Matthew 22:37-40).  Praise the Lord that when I sin there is forgiveness of my sins!  “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).  Thankful for God’s sanctifying grace!

Again this year I’ve faced challenges at work, challenges with people, physical trials, and walked through challenging times with others.  One thing remains reliable, constant, and ever abundant – God’s grace!  “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  Grateful for God’s sustaining grace!

Lord, thank you for your grace that  saved me, is necessary and abundant in the process of sanctification (being more like your son, Jesus Christ), and is available each day to rely on, know, and live out for your glory and the good of others.