Reflection: 

God’s grace is incredible. Truly, God gives us what we do not deserve. This is often understood in terms of what God’s grace saved us from. It is also important to understand what grace saves us for.  

Paul warns about the awful possibility of receiving God’s grace in vain (being ineffective and unproductive). How can we avoid this terrible possibility? Very simple — God’s grace to and in us is meant to do something. Grace leads to work. Life-giving work. 

By graciously saving us, God was enlisting us in his sovereign purposes on earth. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. God’s grace to us in Jesus and the Holy Spirit is a spiritual seed, and like all seeds it is meant to reproduce after its own kind. 

Grace is free, and it demands everything. E. Stanley Jones explains:  

“Grace binds you with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it, you are bound forever to the Giver and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give.” 

Prayer: 

Thank you, Lord God Almighty, that your grace is so expansive and generous that you desire all people to know and enjoy it. I recognise that in saving me you have enlisted me into your loving purposes for the whole world. Holy Spirit, please help me discern the good works that you are calling me to, and to be proactive in the opportunities that I come across to do good works.