GRACE YOUTH
WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL

GLORIOUS GRACE

May 3, 2023

So often, we look at what other people have and want it. Sometimes it’s the car they drive, the new gear they bought to play ball, their friends, their abilities, their looks, even their families. We often look at other people in envy, wondering why we don’t have what they have. What did they do to deserve it? Don’t I deserve some of those things????

Let’s take a minute to put everything in perspective. They don’t deserve what they have and you don’t deserve what you have. What we all deserve is to go to hell. We are all wickedly sinful and corrupt. We lie, cheat, steal, exaggerate, gossip, put others down, think too highly of ourselves, and are all around selfish. Sure, you might be less of a cheat or less selfish than someone else. We can always play the comparison game to make ourselves feel better. But what is true, is that we are corrupt, sinful, broken beyond repair. Take a minute to stop reading, and take that in. Our sin is wicked and it has a far greater hold on us than we think. The longer you sit and think about ways you have sinned, the more you will see just how often you are selfish and broken. Your list will just keep getting longer, because there is always another time, another place that you can think of, where you committed just a little white sin that wasn’t really that bad. We are so broken that when we look at our “smaller” sins, we justify it by saying “it really wasn’t a bad thing though because it actually helped this other guy…” Even if it did, your sin is still black, it is wrong, it is wicked. We can’t even admit all the ways we sin, because we are so sinful that we just lie to ourselves to make us feel better….. selfish.

Thank the Lord that He doesn’t send us all to hell as we deserve! Thank the Lord, that He allows us to continue to live at all! Thank you Jesus for loving us enough to come into this world! Thank you Jesus for showing us what a perfect, sinless life looks like! Thank You Jesus for teaching us what is right and true, what it means to be pure! Thank you Jesus for investing in people who could pass the message along to us! We don’t deserve any of this!!!! Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sin! Thank you Jesus for rising from the dead, defeating death, and proving that you are the son of God. Thank you Jesus for giving me the opportunity to step into the light,  saved from sin,  made pure by your righteousness, and saved from Hell! Thank you, Jesus, for giving me the opportunity to come to heaven with you for all eternity!

Today is the day. Turn to Jesus, be forgiven, be restored by Him, and enter into eternity.  

Psalm 103:10-17
He does not punish us for all our sins;
   he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
   is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
   as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
   tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
   he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
   like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
   as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
   with those who fear him.