AND

There is a Bible verse traditionally used by Christians when relating the salvation process:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -Romans 3:23

Our purpose in using it is to get people to realize that no one is righteous in and of themselves; we need God.

But this morning as I was reading through this passage, it stuck me that although the verse ends after the word "God," the sentence does not. In fact there is an "AND" at the beginning of verse 24 that continues the author's thought:

"AND are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Now it is true that we all have to see our need of God because no one can reach the mark of his righteousness on their own. But here God wants us to realize even though this is true, all who believe in Jesus are also justified (made righteous) freely. Our salvation is free because Jesus paid the price for us. That's grace.

The acrostic I have used for many years to define grace is
God's
Riches
At
Christ's
Expense.

And there it is right in the passage that we have used for many years to "beat" the realization of sin into us sinners! Yes, we are sinners, but God didn't stop there. He went on to do what we couldn't do- procure our salvation (righteousness)- and then offer it to us for free!

Isn't that just like God? Right in the middle of our realization of our sin, he places an AND to let us know there is more. AND it's his GRACE.

AND here I am again, standing under the waterfall of God's GRACE. Nice.

(Click on the picture to go to allposters.com and buy it)