Amazing Grace

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as taught by the scriptures alone, for the glory of God alone.

Grace. One word. Five letters. So simple. So amazing. And sometimes difficult to comprehend. However, three stories demonstrate the incredible grace of God.

The first one is summed up in two words, “and Peter.” When the angel in Jesus’ tomb told the women their Lord had risen, He told them to go tell His disciples and then added two simple words, “and Peter.”

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee.’ There you will see him, just as he told you (Mark 16:7 NIV).

After Peter’s betrayal, Jesus made sure that His broken disciple knew he was forgiven and that he could return to his Lord. Amazing grace.

The second example is “a Pharisee of Pharisees,” who had the blood of countless Christians on his hands. Then he met Christ in a head-on collision on the road to Damascus. Paul ended up writing two-thirds of the New Testament.

The third person to benefit from God’s grace was a slave trader who met Christ in a sinking vessel on a stormy ocean. At the age of twenty-one, John Newton was working on a slave ship, the Greyhound, crossing the Atlantic. A violent storm broke out and the ship was swamped. After a long night of frantically pumping water, Newton realized death was almost certain. He pleaded with God to have mercy and, miraculously, both the ship and the crew survived. John Newton wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

So, if you ever think the mistakes and sins in your life preclude you from reaching out to Christ, just remember these two words, “and Peter.”