Who wakes up thinking, “I wonder if I can remember the words of Question and Answer 60 of the Heidelberg Catechism?” I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. But it happened to me this week and I don’t know why.
Or maybe I do. Q/A 60 is a great one for those on a Lenten journey:
Q. How are you righteous before God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.
Even though my conscience accuses me
of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments,
of never having kept any of them,
and of still being inclined toward all evil,
nevertheless,
without any merit of my own,
out of sheer grace,
God grants and credits to me
the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,
as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner,
and as if I had been as perfectly obedient
as Christ was obedient for me.
All I need to do
is accept this gift with a believing heart.
Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 60
I love that gracious word, nevertheless. Left on my own, my situation before God is really bad and my conscience lets me know it. Nevertheless, because of his sheer grace God changes my situation. Now God sees me as he sees Christ: never sinned nor been a sinner; perfectly obedient.
So now I’ve got “This is Amazing Grace” by Phil Wickham going in my head as an earworm:
This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You've done for me
Here’s a Lenten question for the day: How am I going to live in gratitude for such amazing grace that God has given me?