Gospel Grace Is your heart restless and grasping for something? Do you know what it might be? Do you ever wonder about your purpose and why you are alive at this time in history? Thoughts like these may have occupied your mind for years or maybe they have only recently surfaced. Either way, we’ve all experienced them at some point along life’s path. Is it possible that such stirrings were tenderly planted in your heart at the moment of your first breath? No matter your background or current station in life, you were created and intentionally designed for things now and those yet to be realized. The thirst for meaning and contentment within the world’s offerings is unquenchable and disappointing – it is never enough.¹ Money, status, romance, success – whatever it may be - cannot fill the void that is only found in a gift…a literal heaven-sent gift that is unearned, yet freely attainable. The gift is not based on rules, religion, or behavior, but on receiving.2 This gift is Jesus. Over 2,000 years ago, He left heaven’s perfection and chose to live in the brokenness of our imperfect world – a world stained by humankind’s choice to “live as I please” – the pathway to sin that introduced the anguish of both physical and spiritual death as a penalty.³ But God made a way of hope and Jesus is The Way!⁴ After 33 years of a sinless life on earth (yes, completely perfect), Jesus willingly offered Himself as payment for your sins and mine. The debt we could never pay was erased on a cross to give us an eternity we do not deserve. His extravagant grace - undeserved favor toward us, not to shame us, but to express His unconditional love with surety of an eternal future.⁵ There is life after death. Jesus, the only One with power to rise from a grave, offers us a new life now and beyond our own grave. Skeptics choose to dismiss or deny this truth…it is for the weak or naïve, they say. But deep down in the stillness, they perhaps wonder and quietly hope. The calling of God is not one of judgment, but of acceptance right where you are today. No need to “clean up” first. Simply believe in His gift and receive Him. It is free and it will transform
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your life. New strength will be found, and you’ll wonder why you waited so long. Friend, Jesus is calling – will you answer Him? If so, speak to Him with this simple prayer: Dear Jesus, I know that I have lived an imperfect life and that I am a sinner. I believe that you are the Son of God and I thank you for dying on the cross for all of my sins. I receive your gift today and ask you to come into my life and my heart. Please help me to live a life that pleases you. Thank you for saving me so that I can live forever with you. Amen. If this is your prayer today, welcome to new life as a child of God! To help you on your journey, it will be important to connect with people in a local church who can answer questions you may have about your decision. Please contact us here at Voice of Truth at www.womenworldleaders.com/ contact for a list of churches in your area. Scriptural References (New International Version Bible): ¹Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 2For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 ⁴Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 ⁵For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Stephanie Fincher
