God Has Given You An A+ By Pete BriscoeSample

Oh I hope it’s true

If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance.— George Bernard Shaw

Did you ever read something in a book or hear a promise in an infomercial and think, Yeah, that could be true. Maybe it is. Oh, I HOPE it’s true. I feel that way about God’s timeless promise of grace. It’s like I know in my head that I’m loved by Him as I am, but because I’m so used to getting beat up with the performance legalism of the world, my heart is skeptical.

The truth, whether we feel like it or not, is this: In Christ, God has already given you an A+ in the class of life. Because of Christ’s finished work, Christians already have an A. The threats of failure, judgment, and condemnation have been removed. We’re “in” for forever. Nothing we do will make our grade better, and nothing we do will make our grade worse.

In His life, by His death, and with His resurrection, Christ, our substitute, secured for us the A that we come into this world longing for and yet, are incapable of securing for ourselves. We don’t need to add anything to it. Paul said this:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

All the pardon, the approval, the purpose, the freedom, the rescue, the meaning, the righteousness, the cleansing, the significance, the worth, and the affection that we crave and need are already ours in Christ. That’s not just our hope; that’s God’s promise of truth for life today.

Father, I thank You that the same operative power that made me a Christian is the same operative power that keeps me a Christian: Your unconditional, unqualified, underserved, unrestrained grace through the completed work of Christ. Show me, right now, the implications of this truth. Amen.