Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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The Path to Grace and Restoration  

Bible Reading: St. James 4:7-10 

Key Verse :St. James 4:8 
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

DEVOTION

In our faith journey, it is essential to ensure that we are right with God. As broken people in a broken world, we often fall short of God’s perfect standard. Our pursuit of a contrite heart is often marred by sin. As St. Paul says in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” 
However, it is still of utmost importance that we consistently examine our hearts to see if we are knowingly or unknowingly allowing sin to plague us. Until and unless we cleanse our hearts of all transgressions, we cannot fully experience the grace of God. 
In the book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes, “It is a misconception to think we can add Christ to our lives without subtracting sin.” This statement rings ever so true in our journey of restoration. The path to restoration and grace begins with the realization that we are children of the Most High and, therefore, cannot allow sin to fester in our hearts. 
Carbon monoxide is often called a silent killer. Similarly, sin is the silent killer of spirituality. We let these sins fester and take root in our hearts, and it wreaks havoc on our relationship with God. The Holy God of the Cosmos is pure and without sin, and before Him, we must rid ourselves of our evil ways, turn in true repentance, and then we will be restored and be recipients of His grace. 
In the early 1700s, there was a mother in London who taught her son how to pray and seek the Lord. However, when he was 7 years old, tragedy struck when his mother died of tuberculosis. So, he largely abandoned his faith and followed his father into the high seas, making a career as a sailor and slave trader. But, some years later, on an unfortunate night, he found himself losing control of his ship in a raging storm. In that moment, he cried out to the God his mother introduced him to many years ago in his childhood, and the Faithful Lord delivered him safely to shore. Shortly after this encounter, he repented from his life as a slave trader and became an Anglican priest. His name is John Newton, or you may better know him as the author of the evergreen hymn “Amazing Grace.”
May the Good Lord bless us all.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we come before You as sinners who have, for so long, turned from Your ways. We pray that You would cleanse our sins and make them as white as snow, sanctify us to be pure in Your sight. Lord, adorn us with Your holiness, grant us Your grace, and restore us from our fallen state. Amen.. 

Thought for the day

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me" (John Newton, 1779).


Jotham B. Simon 
 St. Paul’s Mar Thoma Church, Dallas 
Texas.

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