I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING WAS WRONG
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.”
Most of us have sung those words so many times that we can almost sing them without thinking.
But have you ever stopped to think about the man who wrote them?
His name was John Newton.
Newton wasn’t a man who had simply made a few mistakes. His life had taken him into the brutal world of the slave trade, where human beings were treated as cargo.
Then, in 1748, Newton was aboard a ship caught in a violent storm. The ship was in serious danger, and Newton feared for his life.
In that storm, he cried out to God for mercy.
That moment became a turning point.
But God didn’t just rescue John Newton from a storm.
God began rescuing John Newton from the man he had become.
His transformation didn’t happen overnight. God patiently worked in his life. Newton eventually left the slave trade, entered Christian ministry, became a pastor, and spent the rest of his life proclaiming the grace of God.
Grace was changing him.
And that’s what grace is supposed to do.
HERE’S THE SHOCKER…
A few weeks ago, I went in for some tests at my doctor’s recommendation.
I honestly thought everything was fine. In fact, I thought the doctor might even say, “You’re really in pretty good shape…for your age!”
Ha! I was feeling pretty good about myself.
But that isn’t what happened.
The testing was stopped because they found something—and it wasn’t good.
There was something happening inside me that I was completely unaware of.
I couldn’t see it.
I couldn’t feel it.
But it was there.
And sometimes that’s what happens in our spiritual lives.
We walk through life thinking, I’m doing pretty well. I’m a good person. I’m doing all the  right things – reading my Bible, praying and serving the Lord.
But God sees what we cannot see.
He is the Great Physician.
He looks straight into our hearts.
That’s exactly what Jesus did with the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2.
He acknowledged their hard work and perseverance.
They were beaming! They thought they were in great shape!
But, then Jesus told them they had forsaken their first love and called them to remember, repent, and return.
They were shocked! They couldn’t believe it! 
That’s a wake-up call for all of us.
It is possible to be busy doing things for God while our hearts are unforgiving, graceless and merciless.
And the frightening part?
We may not even realize how sick we really are.
But here’s the beautiful thing about a spiritual diagnosis:
God doesn’t expose what is wrong to condemn us.
He exposes it because He wants to change us.
HE’S STILL WORKING ON ME
There’s an old children’s song that says:
“He’s still working on me
To make me what I ought to be.”
I love that song because it reminds me that God isn’t finished with me yet.
If I understand that I have been forgiven, I should become more willing to forgive.
If I understand God’s mercy, I should become more willing to show mercy.
If I understand that Jesus loved me when I was undeserving, I should become more willing to love others—even difficult people.
Grace received should become grace lived.
That is what happened to John Newton.
And it is what God has been doing in me.
Through my journey with my daughter Joy, God began opening my eyes to things I had not fully understood in Scripture. For the past 25 years, He has patiently been renewing my mind and changing my heart.
It didn’t happen overnight.
He’s still working on me.
When I look at the woman I was 25 years ago compared to the woman I am today, I can honestly say:
God’s grace has been changing me.
That’s what He wants to do in every one of us.
Not simply forgive us…
but transform us.
REFLECTION
So today, ask yourself:
Has God’s grace changed me?
Has it changed the way I forgive?
John Newton never forgot who he had been.
Perhaps that’s why he never stopped being amazed by grace.
“I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.”
That was his story.
And if you know Jesus…
that’s our story too.
We were lost.
He found us.
We deserved judgment.
He gave us mercy.
We didn’t deserve grace.
He gave it anyway.
So don’t just sing Amazing Grace.
Let it change you.
Because grace doesn’t leave us where it found us.
And when God shows us something in our lives that needs to change, we don’t have to despair.
We can remember:
He’s still working on me.
And maybe that’s where this 31-day journey has been leading us all along—not simply to understand grace and mercy, but to live differently because we have received them.
TOMORROW…
Tomorrow we’re going to talk about a truth that sounds simple…
but can be incredibly difficult to live:
FORGIVEN PEOPLE FORGIVE.
And tomorrow, we may have to face an uncomfortable question:
“If I’ve been forgiven by God…
who am I still struggling to forgive?”
Because sometimes the hardest part of receiving grace…
is learning to extend it.
