All of Grace

Recently I have been listening to All of Grace, an audio book of the great work by Charles Spurgeon. It is a glorious exposition of salvation in Christ. Its title is quite fitting, for salvation is all of grace.

What has struck me as I have listened is just how the Good News of Christ obliterates my pride. Any time I am tempted to think well of myself (which is far, far too often) and look down on others (which is also wickedly frequent), I have no ground on which to stand, if I am standing in grace because everything is of grace. Any good that I do is "wrought in God." Any pleasure that I experience is from the kindness of His hand, and not because I deserve it. Anything that I have that makes me better than another is something that I have received, and that undeservingly.

Thus the Good News is infinitely good: that every good thing I receive is from the overflow of the goodness of a kind, gracious, wise and merciful God, and that every pain I suffer is less than what I deserve. Moreover, it awakens the deepest compassion for those on whom I am tempted to look down, because truly but for the grace of God, there go I. How can I then despise another without despising the very grace of God?

O God, let this be ever before my eyes, that salvation of Christ is all of grace!