On a trip to England with my family, I took my children to visit a number of historic sights in London, including Westminster Abbey.
There is an area within the Abbey called Poets’ Corner. This is the resting place for many poets and writers. We saw the grave of Charles Dickens and memorials to Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, and others.
What an honor, I thought, to have your name carved in stone in this location.
Yet, the guidebook explained some poets were not buried or memorialized in Westminster Abbey because of their unconventional lives. They were excluded, although more recently these restrictions have been relaxed.
God, however, is not like this.
God does not deprive or deny access to salvation because we have not met his standard.
God’s gift of salvation is offered to everyone, even if we doubt our eligibility.
You should never think you are unworthy of God’s grace.
If we look at Jesus’ life we see God’s generous nature in action.
Tweet ThisJesus mixed with people whose lifestyles were unacceptable, and in doing so horrified the religiously upright of his day.
Jesus broke many religious and cultural conventions to bring his message of good news to those whose lives were messy.
He spent time with …
the financially unscrupulous (Luke 19:1-10)
women who were morally impure (Luke 7:36-50)
those who had different cultural and religious views (John 4:4-26).
Jesus shows us we should never look at another person and think they are beyond God’s favor.
God’s love is offered to the unethical, unprincipled, unsavory person the same as it is to the person who lives an ethical, principled, and good life.
We have a one-size-fits-all message to share:
1. Reflect on God’s free gift of salvation.
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NLT)For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but to save the world through him.
John 3:17 (NIV)
2. Respond to God and his gift.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
3. Realize the difference this will make in your day-to-day living.
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:50 (NIV)
The message we need to declare is the accessibility to God and his mercy through Jesus Christ. The example we need to give is the far-reaching nature of God’s love to our friends, family, neighbors and the strangers we meet.
Linking up with Susan Mead at #DanceWithJesus, Kelly Balarie at #RaRaLinkup, Holly Barrett at #TestimonyTuesday, Holley Gerth at #CoffeeForYourHeart, Jaime Weibel at #SittingAmongFriends and Dawn Klinge at #GraceandTruth
Love this post, Rachel! I liked how you tied in the unacceptance of the world with the acceptance of the one size fits all gift that God offers us. Straight and to the point. Sharing this post today! Thank for for sharing your stories with us at Sitting Among Friends!
Thanks Jamie. Thanks for hosting Sitting Among Friends. You’re the best.
Oops, PS here is the link: http://maryanderingcreatively.com/the-place-to-celebrate-literacy/
Also please sure to check out our guest post opportunity.
Rachel, I am so glad Jesus is so giving and wonderful. I love the song “Just As I” because Jesus accepted me in love and grace. Thank you for stopping by and your kind support. PS I would be honored if you consider linking up with Literacy Musing Mondays. We accept devotionals and anything posts dealing with literacy, reading, writing, blogging, and learning.
Great message and reminder of the grace we are so freely given and how we need to remember to offer the same to others! Thanks Rachel!
Love this description of the “one-size-fits-all-gift” we have in salvation. That is a powerful contrast with your Westminster Abbey story. No one excluded from the good news of the gospel!
No one is excluded from the good news of the gospel and, thankfully, no one remains unchanged when they accept the gospel. Thanks, Betsy.
How wonderful that God still loves us, even when we fall short! Love that we alway get that opportunity to be redeemed through His grace and mercy.
Me too, Kathryn. I love that I can keep coming back to receive His mercy.
We’re all equally unworthy of God’s grace, aren’t we? Yet He lavishes it upon us anyway – while we were still sinners and in fact His enemies. I stand in awe of such grace! Thank you for sharing with us at Grace & Truth!
I love how you use the word “lavish” because it speaks perfectly of God’s goodness to us. Thanks, Jennifer.
Rachel, I especially love how you were able to compare the two in your writing and I love the truth behind what you wrote. While there is a one-size-fits-all message to share about Jesus Christ, when it comes to us, there is no one-size fits all in God’s kingdom. He accepts us as we are, so beautiful.
I love that, Crystal – there is no one-size fits all in God’s Kingdom. He accepts us all, no matter how different. And so often we try to make everyone be the same.
England is on my bucket list. Just thought I’d throw that out there. When our vision is clouded with opinion it can be tempting to forget that no one is beyond God’s reach. Blessings and have a good weekend. Linking with you at Grace and Truth.
Ginger, I really hope you get to go to England one day. You’re so right – our vision can get clouded. We need God’s perspective.
Wow! Rachel, this is a great reminder. And I didn’t know that about the poets – interesting! You are so right. Jesus’ gift of salvation is free to everyone, and that’s something I think we often forget. Blessings!
Thanks Kristine, and so many people need to know about God’s gift, right?
Wonderful to realize that all the promises of God under the New Covenant rest on HIS amazing faithfulness – not my ceaseless striving!
Blessings, Rachel! Wonderful, God-exalting post!
Beautifully put, Michele. Thanks for your encouragement. Blessings to you this Easter.
This is a wonderful post, thank you for including verse 17. I was one of the people walking around condemning myself, and not realizing it was the accuser of the brethren.This is a gift no would return.
Rebecca, I love that verse too. It’s good to constantly remind ourselves we live in the time of God’s favor. Happy Easter.