July 30, 2025

THIS IS GRACE

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”

Galatians 2:19–21 NLT

---

TODAY’S THOUGHT

Imagine a courtroom.

A guilty person stands before the judge, awaiting sentencing. The verdict is clear: guilty. The punishment? Death. The law has spoken, and justice demands payment.

But then, something unimaginable happens—the judge rises from the bench, takes off his robe, and offers to die in the place of the guilty. Justice is satisfied, not by ignoring the law, but by fulfilling it through the judge’s own sacrifice. The guilty person walks free—not because the law was erased, but because the penalty was paid in full.

This is grace.

God, the righteous Judge, gave the law that revealed our sin and declared us guilty. Yet He didn’t leave us to face the consequences alone. He came down in the person of Jesus—God the Son—and took our place on the cross. Every sin we’ve ever committed (and will commit) was placed on Jesus. He died the death we deserved.

Now, through faith in Jesus, we live—not condemned, not trying to earn God’s favor, but fully accepted, fully loved, fully forgiven.

Paul says, “I died to the law…”

This means he stopped trying to gain God’s approval through rule-keeping. Why? Because he realized something powerful: his old self died with Christ. Now, Christ lives in him. Paul no longer lives to meet a list of requirements; he lives by faith in the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him.

Why would we go back to prison?

If Jesus paid it all, why would we act as if we still owe something? If salvation could come by obeying the law, Paul says, then Jesus died for nothing. But He didn’t. He died because it was the only way to bring us back to God.

To try to add rules or works to the finished work of the cross is to treat God’s grace as meaningless. It’s like saying, “Thanks, Jesus… but I’ve got to earn the rest myself.” That’s not faith—it’s spiritual pride.

What now? Do we just live however we want?

Absolutely not. Grace isn’t a license to sin; it’s power to live free from sin. We don’t follow rules out of fear—we follow Jesus out of love. He lives in us. His Spirit guides us. Righteousness isn’t a standard we force on ourselves; it’s the fruit of Christ living in us.

---

TODAY’S PRAYER

Holy Spirit, help me truly understand grace. Set me free from the control, consequences, and condemnation of the law. Teach me to live by faith, to trust in Jesus, and to walk in the freedom You’ve given me. Let me show this same grace to myself and to others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”