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Day

25

Grace

Lent 2023

Read Romans 11:1–10

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

"God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

9 And David says,

"Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:5-6

Paul knows as well as anyone else that God’s work is all about grace. grace. Paul— known previously as Saul and the persecutor of those who followed the teachings of Jesus Christ—experienced firsthand God’s amazing work of grace in his own life. Even as he was seeking to arrest believers in Christ, Jesus called him to be “his chosen instrument to carry his name before the Gentiles” (Act 9:15). God has always used the incomprehensible to move his plan forward and it has always been grace at work. So as Paul explains to the Romans how God is working and has worked, he confidently says to them “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

Grace means God is working. We do not do the work, we are not responsible for it, we do not earn it, we only receive grace and respond to it. God’s plan to work through the remnant, through Paul, through those in Rome and through you is grace at work. He wants you to know that his gift of grace is free, unstoppable and eternal. No matter who you are or what you have done, Christ came for you. He gives you this gift so that he can penetrate every area of your life and live for him.

You are saved by grace – thanks be to God!

Prayer

Lord God, your ways are not my ways and I am so thankful that you have worked grace into my life. Help me to be a grace-filled person and live it out today, tomorrow—and thanks to your gift of grace—live it out with you eternally! Amen.

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