Earned Never Given

            It is commissioning week for the Naval Academy here in Annapolis, MD. Their many families gather for the fourth year midshipmen's graduation and sending out! I was running this morning through DA (downtown Annapolis) when I saw a Navy bus carrying either midshipmen or their families. The side of it read, in large golden letters, "Earned Never Given." As I was pondering that phrase, I was immediately struck by how thankful I am that the Christian faith is not like that! With Christ, his grace, mercy and love is GIVEN never earned! In fact, we cannot earn it--thank the good Lord for that :) There is no way I could ever earn the grace He has shown me in each and every one of my failures and sins. When I struggle with pride, lose my temper with my family, or find myself coveting what a friend may have, I know that the Lord accepts me and forgives me just as much in those moments as the moments when I feel that I am doing my best. To the "praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves" (Ephesians 1:6).