“justified freely by His grace” – Romans 3:24
This verse doesn’t just define salvation—it reveals how it becomes ours. The word freely is key. It means without cost, without condition, without cause. You might think, “Surely I must do something to earn it!” But consider Jesus. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead—and yet He was hated. Pilate himself said, “I find no fault in Him.” Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4 in John 15:25, saying, “They hated Me without a cause.” That phrase—without a cause—is the same word used for freely in Romans 3:24. If Jesus was hated undeservedly, then salvation is given undeservedly. It’s not earned. It’s not achieved. It’s a gift, given without a cause in us.
Now let’s look at the second word: grace. This is God’s unmerited favor—kindness shown to those who deserve the opposite. It’s not just a free gift; it’s a free gift to the hopeless, the undeserving, the guilty. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Grace doesn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up. It meets us in our mess. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. As Martin Lloyd-Jones put it, “Grace arises solely from the love of God without anything whatsoever in us to produce it; indeed it is entirely in spite of us.” That’s the beauty of the gospel—it’s not about our worthiness, but His mercy.
So what is salvation, and how does it become ours? It is God’s righteousness, God’s justification, God’s faithfulness, and God’s free grace. It’s not a transaction—it’s a declaration. It’s not a reward—it’s a rescue. This gospel surpasses all human wisdom and understanding. It humbles the proud and lifts the broken. And it begins with this truth: we are justified freely by His grace. Let that sink in. You don’t have to earn it. You only have to receive it. And once you do, you’ll never be the same.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9
surrendered devotions 