I became a Christian about the same time I became a Boy Scout, and I made the assumption that God grades like the Boy Scouts do: on a merit system. Good scouts move up. Good people go to heaven.

So, I resolved to amass of multitude of spiritual badges. I worked toward the day when God, amid falling confetti and dancing cherubim, would drape my badge-laden sash across my chest and welcome me into his eternal kingdom, where I would humbly display my badges for eternity.

But some thorny questions surfaced. How many badges does he require? How good is good?  And then I was corrected. Ephesians 2:8 (NASB) says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Unearned. A gift. Our merits merit nothing. So let grace happen, for Heaven’s sake.

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Christ took away your sins. He endured not just the nails of the Romans, the mockery of the crowd, and the spear of the soldier, but he endured the anger of God.

God didn’t just overlook your sins, lest he endorse them. He didn’t punish you, lest he destroy you. Instead he found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner. Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you credit for Jesus’ perfection.

As long as the cross is God’s gift to the world, it will touch you but it will not change you. Precious as it is to proclaim, “Christ died for the world,” even sweeter it is to whisper, “Christ died for me.” For my sins he died. He took my place on the cross. He felt my shame, he spoke my name. Thank God for the day Jesus took your place, for the day grace happened to you.

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We are incarcerated by our past. Our low road choices, our high minded pride. We have been found guilty. Our executioner’s footsteps echo against stone walls. We sit on the floor of the dusty cell, awaiting our final moment. We don’t look up as he opens the door; we know what he’s going to say. “Time to pay for your sins!”

But we hear something else. “You’re free to go. They took Jesus instead of you.” The door swings open and the guard barks, “Get out!” And we find ourselves shackles gone, crimes pardoned, wondering, what just happened?

Well, grace just happened. Christ took away your sins. Romans chapter 3 explains that God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. What happened? Grace happened!

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Not all guilt is bad. God uses appropriate doses of guilt to awaken us to sin. God’s guilt brings enough regret to change us. Satan’s guilt, on the other hand, brings enough regret to enslave us. Don’t let Satan lock his shackles on you. Colossians 3:3 (NIV) says, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

You see, when God looks at you, he sees Jesus first. In the Chinese language the word for “righteousness” is a combination of two characters: the figure of a lamb and a person. The lamb is on top, covering the person. Whenever God looks down on you, this is what he sees. The perfect Lamb of God covering you.

It boils down to this choice: Do you trust your Advocate, Jesus, or your Accuser, Satan? Give no heed to Satan’s voice. You have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous.

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Satan’s condemnation brings no repentance or resolve, just regret. Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy. To steal your peace, to kill your dreams, to destroy your future. Satan has deputized people to peddle his poison. Friends dredge up your past, preachers proclaim all guilt and no grace, and parents—oh your parents! They own a travel agency that specializes in guilt trips. “Why can’t you grow up?” they say. “When are you going to make me proud?” they say.

But your accusers will not have the last word. Jesus has acted on your behalf. Jesus has risen to your defense. Hebrews 10:22 (NCV) says, “Let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience.” Not just for our past mistakes, but also for our future ones.

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The voices in our world and the voices in our head. Who is this morality patrolman who issues a citation at every stumble? Does he ever shut up? No. Because Satan never shuts up.

Revelation 12:10 (NLT) says, “For the accuser has been thrown down to earth, the one who accused our brothers and sisters before our God day and night.”  Satan is relentless, tireless. The accuser makes a career out of accusing, but he will not have the last word. Jesus has acted on our behalf.

He stooped. Low enough to be spat upon, nailed, and speared. Low, low enough to be buried. And then he stood. He stood up. Romans 8:34 promises that he is in the presence of God at this very moment standing up for us. So we have a clean conscience. We have a clean record. Free from condemnation, a new life in Christ! Grace.

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She was only five years old when you took the photo. Cheeks freckled by the summer sun, hair in pigtails. That was twenty years ago. Three marriages ago. A million flight miles and e-mails ago. Today she walks down the aisle on the arm of another father. You left your family bobbing in the wake of your high-speed career. Now that you have what you wanted, you don’t want it at all. Oh, to have a second chance.

Did you know God will give you one? 1 John 4:15 says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” God repurposes bad decisions and squalid choices. To be saved by grace is to be saved by God, who placed a term limit on sin, and his son Jesus Christ, who danced a victory jig in the graveyard. God can do something with the mess of your life, and Grace is what you need.

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When grace happens, Christ enters. Christ in you, the hope of glory! For many years, I missed this truth. I believed all the other prepositions: Christ for me, Christ with me, Christ ahead of me. But I never imagined that Christ was in me.

I can’t blame my deficiency on Scripture. Paul refers to the indwelling of Christ 216 times. John mentions his presence 26. No other religion or philosophy makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in his followers. Muhammad does not indwell Muslims. Buddha does not inhabit Buddhists. Influence? Instruct? Yes. But occupy? No!

The mystery of Christianity is summarized in Colossians 1:27: “Christ is in you!” Little by little a new image emerges, all because of  God’s grace.

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Grace is God as heart surgeon. Grace is God cracking open your chest, removing your heart, poisoned as it is with pride and pain, and replacing it with his own. God’s dream isn’t just to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you.

Grace lives because Jesus does, works because he works, and matters because he matters. To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus—not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership—but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod.

Grace won’t be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, we don’t get grace, but it can sure can get us. If you wonder whether God can do something with the mess of your life, then grace is what you need. Make certain it happens to you!

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Your dad makes you come to church, but he can’t make you listen. At least that’s what you’ve always muttered to yourself. But this morning you listen because the preacher speaks of a God who loves prodigals, and you feel like the worst sort of one.

You can’t keep the pregnancy a secret any longer. Soon your parents will know. The preacher will know. And the preacher says God already knows and you wonder what God thinks.

Could you use some grace? You know, grace is God’s best idea. Rather than tell us to change, he creates the change. Do we clean up so he can accept us? No, he accepts us and begins cleaning us up. What a difference this makes! Can’t forgive your past? Christ can, and he is on the move, aggressively budging you from graceless to grace-shaped living. A forgiven person who forgives others. This is grace. Grace is everything Jesus!

Read more Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine

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