{"id":4313,"date":"2026-01-20T01:57:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/?p=4313"},"modified":"2026-01-04T22:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T22:00:18","slug":"grace-doesnt-come-from-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/grace-doesnt-come-from-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Doesn\u2019t Come From Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>Tuesday, January 20<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Grace Doesn\u2019t Come From Duty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God\u2019s grace that you have been saved!) <strong>Ephesians 2:4-5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Grace is not something we offer out of duty, it is something we offer in response to having received it from the Father. Consider the words written in Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5 <em>\u201c<\/em><em>But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God\u2019s grace that you have been saved!)\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p>You see, grace is something that flows naturally when we are filled with gratitude for being saved. \u00a0If I were to say to someone, \u201cI\u2019m going to be gracious because I have to,\u201d it would completely miss the point. Grace doesn\u2019t thrive in obligation; it thrives in a heart that is overwhelmed by thankfulness for the grace we&#8217;ve received.<\/p>\n<p>When I take time to reflect on who I am and all that God has done for me, I realize that I could never have earned, achieved, or deserved His grace. That is what makes grace so powerful. It\u2019s not based on anything I\u2019ve done but on the mercy and love of God. And because of that, I am motivated to extend grace to others, not because I must, but because I am so deeply thankful for what I\u2019ve received.<\/p>\n<p>When we grasp how much grace we\u2019ve been given, we\u2019re no longer just trying to follow rules or fulfill duties. We\u2019re living in a response of love and gratitude.<\/p>\n<p>Today consider how you can remember God\u2019s love and mercy in those moments to inspire genuine grace?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong>:<em> Father, thank You for lavishing Your grace on me, even when I didn\u2019t deserve it. Help me live out of a heart of gratitude, not obligation. Teach me to extend grace to others because I remember how much grace You\u2019ve given me. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuesday, January 20 Grace Doesn\u2019t Come From Duty But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God\u2019s grace that you have been saved!) Ephesians 2:4-5 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4318,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions\/4318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}