In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy dreams of life “Over the Rainbow.” When she gets there, she finds the dull, gray existence she’d had replaced with a Technicolor world of wonders.
Dorothy’s arrival scene in Oz came to mind as I read Romans 5:1,2. Having just described Jesus’ death for our sins and the credit of righteousness we receive for believing in Him, Paul writes, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (NIV, emphasis added).
As I read that description, I had a strong visual image of someone leaving a dark, dreary place and walking through an archway with “Faith in Jesus” across its top, into a beautiful, wondrous place of Grace. I imagined this person discovering that in this new world of Grace, impossibilities transform into possibilities. Existence becomes altogether different.
That’s the account of grace we see in the New Testament. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we gain access into a new existence, a new life, that comes with a new source of power — the very power of God that raised Jesus from the dead.
Have you stepped into this land of Grace? Have you explored the possibilities offered in this place?
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV.
Your Turn: When did you discover the beauty of God’s grace?