For Saturday April 15, 2023

Hebrews 9:27
It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

Warren Wiersbe tells of a frontier town in which a horse-drawn wagon with a little boy aboard was racing through the streets. A young man risked his life to stop the horse and save the child. The rescued child grew up to become a lawless man and one day stood in a court in front of a judge—the now-grown young man who had saved his life. On the basis of their prior relationship, the convicted man pled for mercy. The judge responded, “Once I was your savior, but now I am your judge. I sentence you to your just punishment.”

When the young man risked his life years before to save the child, it was an act of grace. He knew nothing of the young child: Was he worthy of being saved? Was he a respectful child? A rebellious one? It didn’t matter, for grace asks no questions concerning worthiness. It acts only out of self-sacrifice and love. But the Bible says that grace is only for a season. The day will come when God extends judgment to all who have rejected His grace and mercy. Those who reject God’s grace will be worthy of God’s punishment. Have you received His grace?

Don’t consider your worthiness to be saved. Only reach out and take the hand that is extended to you by grace.

Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.
JOHN STOTT

David Jeremiah, Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions (Tyndale, 2014)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.