My Morning Cup.

How does grace teach us? It begins by telling us that we are totally acceptable to God through our faith in Christ. We are justified freely as a gift. So I am a winner before I start. I am accepted before I have done anything. What a relief! How magnificent!

Some would argue, ‘How dangerous!’, but they don’t understand. God starts by totally qualifying us. He will test us later, but he qualifies us first. We start accepted, qualified, justified as a gift.

The righteousness of Christ is freely given to me, not only to start my Christian life, but every day of my life, and he is the same yesterday, today and forever.
— Terry Virgo,God's Lavish Grace (Oxford, UK: Monarch Books, 2003), 113