Ephesians 2:8 – God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (NLT)

"I can't believe that I didn't think of that earlier. I made it so difficult," my wife said.

A friend and I lounged at our favourite fast-food restaurant, shooting the breeze, while our wives walked to a nearby retail store. My friend had lost a lot of weight due to recent health problems and needed a pair of pants that fit him.

Our wives soon returned and plopped down beside us. Mine immediately took out a fingernail file and began working on a pocketbook that belonged to her friend. Fabric had caught in the zipper and had stuck fast.

After efforts with the nail file were unsuccessful, my wife asked for my pocketknife. She cut a few slices, to no avail. After ten minutes of struggling with the stubborn zipper, she inserted the fingernail file between the sides of the zipper, and it immediately separated, freeing up the fabric. With a sigh and a laugh, she realized how difficult that she had made something so simple.

This immediately reminded my friend and me of God's freeing grace. The apostle Paul had experienced it, taught it, and lived it. Before meeting Christ, he had been a legalist to the core. His life had been about following all the rules, even those that God hadn't given. Now, it was all about freedom.

Grace is freeing, just as the fabric and the contents of the pocketbook were freed by the separated zipper. My wife attempted to approach the problem in the usual way — unzipping the zipper — when all that she had to do was to open the pocketbook another way.

Grace is the other way — the only way that works. Any other way makes it more difficult than it needs to be. When we place our faith in Christ, His grace forgives our sins and frees us from their chains. Now, we can do what we didn't want to do before: obey His commands.

Grace, however, isn't a license to live recklessly. We misunderstand God's grace if we think that we don't have to worry about sin anymore because Christ has forgiven all our sins. When we understand what grace cost God — the life of His Son – we will want to please Him by staying as far away from sinful and spiritually harmful situations as possible. Like soldiers in sync, we'll march to the tune of holiness.

If you have experienced the freeing power of God's grace, show your appreciation through obedience. If you have not, now is the time to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and receive that grace.

Prayer: Father, thank You for offering Your grace and for making it easy to run into Your loving arms. Amen.