The Truest Praise

*The more we experience God's love, the more He Himself becomes the primary desire and focus of our life. The coercive aspects of the law become unnecessary. We find ourselves longing to please God simply because we love Him. And that is the greatest joy in life; to experience a genuine love relationship with God. To know that He is for us, that He loves us, is the greatest source of security any person will ever know. Discovering the glorious grace of God is one of the most important events in the spiritual experience. We learn to relate to God on an entirely new basis—not based on my works or of my righteousness but based on God's love for me through Jesus Christ. That is grace, and that is what makes life worth living. In fact, it is what makes real life abundant, fulfilling and satisfying. For when our eyes are opened to the astonishing truth that our relationship with God does not depend upon the puny pebble of our own efforts but upon the massive rock of His unchanging and loving character, life opens before us in a technicolor explosion of awesome possibilities. Grace transforms desolate and bleak plains into rich, green pastures. It changes grit-your-teeth duty into loving, enthusiastic service. It exchanges the tears and guilt of our own failed efforts for the eternal thrill and laughter of freely offered pleasures at the right hand of God. Grace changes everything!

*Chuck Smith "Grace Changes Everything"