I was talking to a friend about Easter, and he mentioned how much he loves the holiday for the candy. (Who doesn’t?!) Then, realizing what he said, he quickly tacked on, “Oh, and also for Jesus/the crucifixion/resurrection/all that, too,” and he looked Heaven-ward with an “I’m sorry” sort of gesture. I had to ask him if he knew about God’s grace.

There are two holidays in this country that make people feel need to be at church: Christmas and Easter. Maybe people go out of tradition. Maybe out of a sense of obligation. Maybe out of a real desire to do what’s right. I have to wonder if these people know about God’s grace.

God’s grace changed my life. The day I quit trying to convince myself that I was a good person and realized the truth—that I was and am desperately wicked—was the day my life completely turned around. Suddenly I had a tremendous need to be made right, because I knew I had only lived wrong, and my little moments of “good” were dwarfed by all the bad I had done. I couldn’t solve the problem myself. I knew then and am constantly reminded now that I had a complete inability to be good.

People talk of God as being either angry or loving. I was never told he was both. God must punish wrong—that’s where the wrathful God who hates and punishes sin comes in. But he’s so loving that he took payment for his wrath that I deserve upon himself—that’s where Jesus comes in. That’s grace.

The day I saw my sin for what it was, was also the day I found God’s grace. He willingly gave himself up for me so that when I quit trying to be “good” by my own standard, he’d be right there to tell me he’d paid for all the wrong I had done with Jesus’ sacrifice. It was his gift to me.

No amount of apologies, or church attendance, or good deeds, or anything else will make up for the gulf we have created between ourselves and God. God alone can bridge that gap, and he already did with Jesus Christ. We don’t have to do anything to try to please him.

Are we all so convinced of our own goodness that we’ll try to cover all our bad with pathetic attempts at good deeds and false repentance? Own up to weakness, to brokenness, to sin. God’s grace is made all the more glorious in light of our desperate state before him. He came for us in spite of it all, in spite of who we are.

Romans 3:23-24
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”