Most of you who read this column know the ageless definition of grace: God's act of giving to us what we do not deserve. As sinners, we have transgressed God's laws. What we have not done outwardly, we have done inwardly, sinning in our hearts. God has warned us that the "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), eternal separation from God and in the Bible He has described the horrors to be found in that place of separation. But we have not heeded His warnings of the eternal judgment for sin.
God has also spoken to us of His love for sinners: "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). But such sacrificial love has not reached our hardened hearts. We have spurned His love and rejected His Son. So, because of that continual rebellion and our callous disregard of His love, God owes us absolutely nothing.
Yet in God's offer of salvation to all who believe in (trust) His Son, He promises to give to us, freely, what we do not deserve: eternal life. Ephesians 2:8, 9 states His gracious grounds of the offer: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." He clearly excludes any possibility of earning eternal life, or in any way deserving it. It must ever be as unmerited favor. We deserve nothing but judgment. His unmerited favor is forgiveness of sin and salvation from the judgment it requires.
It must be observed here, too, that faith is the means of appropriating this unmerited gift of salvation. God will receive no payment, effort, plea, rite, or enrollment as a claim of merit. One must forsake all personal deserving claim and simply trust the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. His sacrifice provides the means of cleansing from sin and the effect of the sacrifice is received by trusting Christ only for salvation.
I would urge you to admit your guilt of sin and rebellion against God. Consider the love that God has extended to you as demonstrated in the death of Christ for you. Set aside all claims to meritorious effort on your part, and trust Christ as your own personal Savior today. God will give to you what you do not deserve: eternal life with its promise of the joys of Heaven where you may enjoy His presence forever.