The Gift of Grace

Daily Devotion "Salvation isn’t free—it just didn’t cost us anything."

The price was paid in full by Christ. And that truth should stir awe, gratitude, and a sober sense of responsibility within us.

We have encountered many who assume that because salvation is offered freely, it must therefore be cheap—or at least insignificant—since it required no personal sacrifice on our part. But salvation was purchased at the highest cost imaginable: the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Grace may be freely received, but it was never freely obtained. That reality should awaken reverence in us and draw us into a life that honors the price that was paid.

It grieves us to see how the mindset of “cheap grace” has taken root in parts of today’s church. When grace is misunderstood as permission rather than transformation, its power is dulled. Instead of following Christ wholeheartedly, many who bear the name “Christian” grow content with blending into the world around them. The freeness of grace is mistaken for a license to remain unchanged—producing little conviction, little repentance, and little evidence of new life.

But grace that asks nothing of us—no surrender, no repentance, no transformation—is not the grace purchased at the Cross. It is a counterfeit grace, shaped to justify comfort rather than to call us into newness of life. True grace does not excuse sin; it frees us from it. It does not leave us as we are; it invites us to become who we were created to be in Christ.

Cheap grace reduces faith to something shallow and transactional. Forgiveness is spoken of without repentance. Communion is received without self-examination. Baptism is celebrated without a commitment to discipleship. Absolution is assumed without embracing the responsibility of obedience. When faith is stripped of humility and sincerity, its witness loses its power.

Is it any wonder, then, that the lives of many modern Christians fail to draw others to Christ? When there is little visible difference between those who claim faith and those who do not know Him, the compelling witness of the gospel is weakened. A life genuinely transformed by grace should stand apart—quietly, steadily, unmistakably—pointing others to the hope found in Christ alone.

We have seen this misunderstanding of grace firsthand. When salvation is treated as something of little cost, it is often taken for granted. Over time, this attitude seeps into the culture of the church, softening conviction and dimming the light we are called to shine.

But there is another way—a deeper, richer life of faith that acknowledges the weight of what Christ accomplished at the Cross. True grace humbles us. It calls us to repentance, invites us into transformation, and reorients our lives toward obedience and love. When we live this way, our lives become a living testimony to the costly and beautiful grace we have received.
Many settle for a version of grace that requires nothing and changes little. But the grace won at the Cross is far more profound. It does not soothe our conscience—it sets us free. Anything less is only an imitation.

Scripture

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:8–10

Walk in faith, rest in grace, and trust the One who walks beside you.

In His love and grace,

ray mileur
“Helping believers walk closer to Jesus, one day at a time.”
www.raymileurministries.com