In the book Holy, Holy, Holy, R. C. Sproul tells the story of his second year in teaching. He had been assigned to teach a class on Old Testament Introduction to 250 college freshmen. As part of the coursework, Dr. Sproul required three small papers due on the 30th of September, October, and November. Twenty-five students missed the deadline in September, but he showed some leniency. The next month, some 50 students missed the deadline, and he graciously gave them three more days to turn in their papers. By this stage, Dr. Sproul was one of the most popular professors on campus. When November came around, 150 students crossed the deadline, and R. C. Sproul started handing out failing grades. One student called Fitzgerald cried foul and protested that what the professor was doing was not fair. Sproul reminded him if it was justice he sought, he could give him an F for his tardiness in October as well. Reflecting on the whole semester, R. C. Sproul said this: “Those students had grown accustomed to my grace. The first time they were late with their papers, they were amazed by grace. The second time, they were no longer surprised . . . . By the third time, they demanded it. They had come to believe that grace was an inalienable right, an entitlement they all deserved.”
How easy it is for us as Christians to take God’s grace for granted, to move from being amazed by it to being accustomed to it. We mistakenly assume upon God’s goodness and presume upon His mercy as if it was owed to us. But grace by its very nature is amazing and must always be seen as such. Grace is God’s unmerited favor coming to us through Christ despite our sin. Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. It is not owed. It is not merited. Rather, it is granted sovereignly and surprisingly by the indiscriminate love of God. By nature, we are hell-deserving sinners. By grace, we are heaven born and heaven bound.
Life and all its attendant blessings are an amazing gift from God, and eternal life with its endless joy is an even greater gift! According to the apostle John, we have received from God, through Christ, grace upon grace, grace replacing grace (John 1:16). You and I live under the showerhead of God’s affluent grace. On a day-to-day basis, we are showered with saving grace, strengthening grace, serving grace, singing grace, and sufficient grace (Rom. 12:3–8; 2 Cor. 12:9; Eph. 2:8–9; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:1). Any good that comes to us, any good in us, any good done by us is God’s good work in Christ. Paul acknowledges he was what he was by the grace of God (1 Cor. 15:10). As an old Scottish saint prayed, “May God grant us grace to feel our need of grace, then give us grace to ask for grace, then give us grace to receive grace, then when grace has been given, give us grace to be grateful.” Today, put “amazing” back into grace!