What We Don’t Deserve

By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
–Ephesians 2:8–9

Forgiven people should be better forgivers because we understand grace. Years ago, I was talking to a woman whose husband was guilty of infidelity. According to the biblical standard, she had every right to divorce her mate for his unfaithfulness, but she chose to reconcile and work on rebuilding their marriage. That husband was the recipient of grace–he received something he didn’t deserve. And of course, the basis for extending grace to others is the grace God extended to us when He forgave us.

There is a great misunderstanding about God’s forgiveness. We think it’s no big deal for God to forgive us–it’s like when we overlook a smart-aleck comment from a child. But God is not like us. A just God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. In Exodus 23:7, God said, “I will not acquit the guilty.” A just God can’t say, “I know you deserve hell, but I’m not going to punish you for your sins.” Where there is sin, there must be punishment, because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Then how can any of us be saved? Here’s how: God gives us what we don’t deserve by giving somebody else what He didn’t deserve. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul explained it this way: “[God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Sin has to be punished, but Christ willingly bore the punishment we deserve for our sins.

Do you understand this incredible transaction? On the cross, Jesus Christ assumed the obligation for your sins. And when you trusted in Christ as your Savior, God credited you with Christ’s righteousness. Romans 4:5 says, “To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Your entrance into your heavenly home is based not on your righteousness but on His righteousness.

That’s why Christians should be better at forgiving than non-Christians. Just as we have been forgiven much, so we ought to forgive others much.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “The Greatest Conversion in History,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.