December 10, 2018
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living
For 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 (NIV))
There is an old saying that you get what you pay for. This implies that anything of value has a great cost for the one who possesses it. It also implies that if you didn’t pay anything for it, then it is worthless. The thought is that anything of worth and value requires a sacrifice of something of worth or value in order to obtain it.
There is another old saying about something being too good to be true. This actually piggybacks onto the other saying. In essence, if it is supposed to be so valuable and there is no sacrifice to receive it, is it truly worth anything?
There is profound truth in these sayings, but too many people fail to recognize that they only apply to a limited understanding of the world, and that limited understanding is ours! I am certain that everyone reading this can describe at least one situation in your life in the last year in which these old sayings were proven to be true. Get rich quick scams come to mind as one potential situation. However, there is one area in the lives of each and every one of us where we can throw our limited understanding out of the window!
God’s grace is that one and only time!
Are you ready and willing to get what you pay for when you consider that all of us are sinners and the consequences of sin is death? Is this what you want to pay for and receive? Grace is a gift that comes at a great price, but the price was paid by Jesus. None of us have to pay the price that we should rightfully pay. Jesus paid it all. We pay nothing, yet we receive everything! I realize that this sounds too good to be true, but it is far from that. It is our limited human understanding that makes us think that we must pay the price or it is not a valid exchange. On the contrary, the price was so high that no one could ever pay what they owe. We were doomed by our sin with no way of redemption. God saw this and devised a way to pay this high price once and for all for each and every one of us. We can’t earn it. We owe nothing to receive if. All that we have to do is accept!
Are you still trying to earn what is freely given?
Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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grace comes with a price, grace is freely given, grace is not too good to be true, human understanding, Jesus paid it all, limited human understanding, the gift of God, the gift of His son, Uncategorized, you can't buy it, you can't earn it, you get what you pay for | Tagged: accept, anything, Be still, boast, consequences, cost, death, earn, fail, faith, freely, gift, given, God, grace, great, Jesus, paid, pay, people, possesses, price, profound, ready, receive, recognize, requires, sactrifice, saved, sin, sinners, truth, trying, understanding, value, willing, works, worth | 
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Posted by dailylivingministries
May 19, 2014
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 12:23 (NIV))
Which would you rather receive – wages for all of your labors or a gift greater than what you could ever work to achieve?
No matter how simple the answer to that question may seem, there will always be those who refuse to accept a gift so great. They say things like “It is too good to be true,” or “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” They may even say things like “I don’t want anything that I can’t earn for myself.” Part of me wants to respect these people for they want to work for what they have. This is an honest character trait that is admirable, however, there needs to be a balance. It is too easy to allow pride to take the place of honest labor.
Pride !
Once again it raises its ugly head. Pride is able to build lots of things, but it can also destroy things of great value. Are you too proud to accept a free gift from the maker of all things? Are you too proud to admit that there is something that you are not capable of achieving on your own? Are you too proud to shout out to God that you are not capable of attaining His ideal for your life? Pride can be that sin that separates us from God. It is that character trait that will convince you that you earn the wages that are due to you and not the grace that is freely given to you.
Don’t allow pride to blind you to the free gift that is yours simply because you haven’t earned it. No one has earned it. No one is capable of earning it. No one can receive wages sufficient enough to pay for it. It is freely given but cannot be purchased.
Open your heart to the gift. Don’t let pride force you to accept your wages.
Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Leave a Comment » | Christ Jesus our Lord, eternal life, faith, gift, gift of God, God, grace, grace is not too good to be true, open your heart, pride, sin, sin separates us from God, Trust, truth, wages of sin is death | Tagged: accept your wages, Be still, Christ Jesus our Lord, destroy, eternal life, gift, gift of God, God, great value, no such thing as a free lunch, open your heart, pride, refuse to accept a gift, sin, sin separates us from God, too good to be true, too proud, wages, wages of sin is death | Permalink
Posted by dailylivingministries
Daily Living Ministries 