Does fear sometimes persuade you that you aren’t eligible for the gospel’s promises of peace and restoration? Consider then, the vast variety of souls who found God’s grace when they weren’t looking for it. 
A Jericho prostitute. A leprous general. A corrupt tax collector. A woman desperate for a child. A cultured religious leader. A demon-tortured wretch who gashed himself.  A dying thief. A cheating king. 
 
The list goes on and on, encompassing men and women in every imaginable life situation—the wealthy and the poor; the aged and the children; the slaves and those who imprisoned them; the doubting and the faithful; the obedient and those who broke God’s law with wild abandon. 
 
“For God has revealed His grace for the salvation of all people” (Titus 2:11). 
 
The Bible is, above all else, a story of hope for broken, wounded, foolish folks like us.  We were the people sitting in darkness on whom new light has dawned. “In Christ was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1:4). “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:8). 
Grace tells us that we’re loved. Love teaches us to hope. Hope gives us wings to fly to faith.  Faith coaxes us to trust in grace. 
So stay in grace. -Bill Knott