Salvation is received by faith. We must believe what God says and accept God's Word, accept God's free offer of salvation. And when we accept this fact, God creates us into a new person. Grace is the unmerited favor given to us as a gift from God. The only thing required to receive Grace is to believe and trust that Jesus Christ took away our sins by dying on the cross. Because Grace is a gift, there is nothing we can do to earn it, no deed or work to great or worthy enough to purchase it for ourselves. Paul writers in verses 8 and 9" For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing - it is the gift of God, not the results of works so that no one may boast." Paul talked about this in Romans too. He said" Be not comformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is acceptable and the perfect will of God." That is about grace. It means focusing on our being accepted by God so that we can focus on that in others. It means that we stop conforming to believing our own thinking and feelings and focus on faith. Who says just because we think something that it is correct? There is a lot of worthless stuff that goes on in everyone's head and grace can transform that too. Grace can transform addicts of every sort into loving free people. Grace can transform perfectionists from their tendency to depression to having joy. Grace can transform angry and anxious people into the calm sensitive people they are inside. Grace can transform judgmental and critical people into accepting and positive thinking people. Whatever you and I struggle with grace can transform that in positive ways. Probably in more ways than I can even think of right now.

Grace is giving, but it is giving to people who do not deserve the gift. What is the gift God has given? Jesus Christ. God has given Jesus Christ, to save men and women. God did not have to up give Jesus. God could have wiped man from the face of the earth. Man deserved it, Adam and Eve had sinned, but this is God's grace. God is full of mercy and love and kindness - by God's very nature; God is full of these glorious qualities. Therefore, God was bound to shower His grace upon man. God was bound to send His son to save man.

God is not off someplace in the distance, far removed from us, disinterested and unconcerned with our sufferings and death. God is gracious, full of mercy, love, and kindness for us; therefore, God has reached out through Jesus Christ to help us. How?

By giving Jesus Christ die for us, sinners. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, Christ was taking our sins upon himself and bearing the punishments for our sins. When Christ said,'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' God left Christ alone so that he may bear every one's sin. Christ suffered terribly at our cost. He was left on the cross for 3 hours, hung to die, bearing our sins so that we may have eternal life. We had committed high treason against God: rejected and rebelled against the Holy One. The penalty for high treason is death; we are condemned to die. But Christ took our penalty and condemnation upon Himself. Christ died for us - in our place, as our substitute. This is what Scripture means when it says Christ died for us.

As I get older I find myself wanting to say to God, "Lord I love you for being just as you are." Why do I say this to God?" One reason is that God likes it. God loves praise and adoration. God likes it because it affirms to God for being just what God is. Another reason is that it is just the plain truth. God is wonderful, all caring, full of kindness and loves us all dearly. Can you think of anything nicer than if someone were to say to you "I like you just the you are?" This is rather nice is it not? We love to be accepted just as we are. God. loves us just as we are. God accepts us just as we are and I do not know of anyone else like that- that accepts me for me. Isn't that overwhelming?

A good story of conversion to righteousness in the Biblical sense is that of John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace". As a slave trader, John had grown attracted to Christianity and one day when he was in the captain's cabin reading a sermon by John Wesley, John suddenly saw the evil of what he was doing and ordered the ship to turn around in mid-ocean, and returning to Africa, John set the human cargo free. When John wrote 'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fear's relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed." John had grasped the beauty of righteousness; he spoke the simple truth. And John himself became righteous, at its root in Hebrew the word means "one whose aim is true."