The Bible teaches us that God’s grace is the key to our salvation. When we understand exactly what grace is, it becomes even more apparent thy it’s so amazing. While Amazing Grace is one of the most traditional, powerful hymns that has ever been written, it’s a good idea to spend some time thinking about the words of the song and exactly what makes grace so amazing. Today, discover what’s so amazing about grace and thank God for extending His grace to you.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.” Those lyrics are the opening lines of the most famous hymn that has ever been written. The song, which was originally written in 1772 and then published in 1779, has been sang in millions of church services over the last 250 years, and has been covered by some of the most popular artists in Christian music. However, for John Newton, the man who wrote the song, the hymn was simply an opportunity to share his personal faith journey.
John Newton, one of the most renowned pastors and theologians of his time, certainly didn’t start out on a path that caused anyone to believe that he would be leading a church. While his mother was a devout Christian, his father was not. Instead, his father was a harsh man who worked in the slave trade that was so prominent in Europe during the 1700s. Choosing instead to follow in his father’s lucrative footsteps, Newton chose to pursue a career built on the backs of the men and women who he bought and sold.
In the 1700s, slaves were loaded onto ships and relocated all around the world. It didn’t take Newton long to find the same kind of success that his father had found, and soon, he was making significant money while buying and selling other people. However, one night, his life was changed forever.
While working on one of the ships that was carrying slaves, a great storm arose. It didn’t take long for the people working the ship to slip into a state of panic, convinced that they weren’t going to make it until morning. Newton, filled with fear, suddenly remembered his mother and how she used to pray about everything that caused fear in her own life.
Moved by fear and a flashback to the faith that he was exposed to as a child, Newton fell to his knees on the ship and began to pray. However, before he could ask God for protection, he knew that he needed to repent of his sinful lifestyle. Suddenly, Newton experienced the grace that he would write in his most famous hymn years later.
When the ship finally made it safely to shore, Newton walked away from his wicked lifestyle. He gave up the lucrative income and opulent lifestyle that the slave trade provided and embraced a life of service to God and others. Before long, Newton was pastoring a church. After a compelling sermon one Sunday morning, one of Newton’s parishioners asked the pastor if he would be willing to share his testimony with the congregation the following week. Newton was struck with fear. What would his congregants think if they knew he worked in such a despicable industry? Would they remove him as pastor because of his past?
Over the course of the next week, Newton struggled to write out the story of his own conversion. That’s when it hit him: instead of telling them what he had been before his conversion, he would instead simply tell them about the grace that had changed his life. He pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and began to write Amazing Grace. The following Sunday, Newton sang the song to his church. Before long, churches all around Europe had incorporated the song into their worship services. Today, roughly 250 years later, we are still singing the song that Newton penned.
So, what’s so amazing about grace? Today, we’re going to look at a single verse of Scripture to answer that question.
Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
The answers to our questions are contained within these four verses.
Its Author
For the grace of God has appeared…
The first thing that makes grace so amazing is its author. Paul told Titus that the “grace of God has appeared.” When you think about what grace is (unmerited favor with someone or something) and realize that God has extended that unmerited favor to us, it’s easy to see why it’s so amazing.
The God who created the entire world and everything in it has extended His grace toward us. We brought nothing to the table. While you may never have lived a life like John Newton, your sin had still put you in a position to be separated from God.
When you came to God, you were a mess in your sins. The Bible teaches us that sin is a sickness, and unfortunately, we don’t have the cure. That means that we came to God with nothing that would impress Him, riddled with a sickness that should have left us separated from Him for all eternity. However, God loved us so much that He wanted to have an eternal relationship with us. With that in mind, He extended the grace that we needed to us so we could receive salvation.
Its Abundance
Bringing salvation for all people
Other translations of the verses that we just read say, “The grace of God has appeared to all people.” There is currently around 8 billion people in the world. That number certainly doesn’t include the billions of people who have lived on Earth since the dawn of creation. Over those thousands of years, God’s grace has been made available to every person.
People often ask if people who have never been exposed to the Gospel will be held responsible for not accepting its message. This verse disputes that possibility. God’s grace has been made apparent to everyone, even if they didn’t receive a formal Gospel message. The second thing that is so amazing about grace is the fact that it has been made abundantly available to everyone.
Its Ability to Alter Us
”Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Finally, God’s grace is so amazing because it has the ability to completely change us. While you may be able to make some changes to your own life, there are ultimately very few things that can truly change who we are as people. God’s grace does that.
According to this passage, God’s grace trains us on how to renounce our ungodly ways and how to deny our worldly passions. It helps us to live lives that are controlled, upright, and godly while we wait on the return of Christ, which is our blessed hope.
God’s grace is amazing because it isn’t just something that makes us feel good. Instead, it completely changes who we are, how we think, and the things that really matter to us. It accomplished that for John Newton, and it can accomplish the same thing for you!
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank You for the grace that You have extended to all humanity. Thank You for showing me the kind of grace that I need in order to be in a relationship with You. In Christ’s name, Amen.