Riches of His Grace

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 203, Riches of His Grace.

Let me give you today's verse — not just read it, but proclaim it. Ephesians 1:7 — "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace."

Stop right there at those first three words: in him we have. Paul does not say "in him we hope to have." He does not say "in him we might have — if you clean yourself up, if you try harder, if you finally become the person you think God needs you to be." He says we have. Present tense. Real possession. Right now. Christ is not a distant hope you are still working your way toward. He is the home you already live in. You are already inside. Redemption is not a finish line you still have to cross — it is the solid ground you are already standing on.

But Paul doesn't stop there. He makes a point to tell you: through his blood. That matters. Redemption did not come cheap. This was not an easy gesture, not a costless act of divine generosity. It cost the Son of God everything He had. And that is precisely why — precisely because the price was paid so completely, so finally, so once and for all — no failure of yours can undo what was sealed at the cross. You cannot exhaust what Christ purchased. There is no mistake large enough to wash away that blood.

And what did that blood purchase? The forgiveness of our trespasses. Not a cold legal acquittal. Paul is talking about a weight being lifted off your back — that thing you carry, what you did or what was done to you, that chapter of your story that still embarrasses you when it surfaces late at night. That weight. It has been lifted. And the forgiveness Paul describes here is not conditioned on your future performance. It does not flow from your track record — it flows from God's character.

And look at how Paul describes that character: he does not say "according to the grace of God." He says according to the riches of his grace. Riches. That word was chosen carefully. Not a scarce grace, not a grace barely sufficient for someone better than you. An abundant, lavish grace that overflows. God does not forgive reluctantly, like someone who caves after enough persuading. He forgives generously. With something that looks like joy. Like a father who was watching the road and waiting for his child to come home.

And notice: every single thing in this verse rests on what He did. Not what you did. Not what you are about to do. That frees you from religious performance — from that exhausting effort to prove you belong here. The more you genuinely understand that you don't deserve this — the more you stop pretending that you do — the more astonishing the forgiveness becomes. The more it breaks you open in exactly the right way.

So today, before breakfast, do this one thing: open Ephesians 1:7 and read it out loud — but replace "we have" with "I have." Let it land in the first person. And then, in one sentence, thank God for one specific thing — something real — that He has forgiven in you. It doesn't have to sound beautiful. It just has to be true.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.