The Christian life can be summed up in three simple words that have profound meaning and impact on the way we live. These three words are guilt, grace, and gratitude.

Pulled from the Heidelberg Catechism, they outline what I have sometimes described as a cycle we live in every day. Whether you have heard of guilt, grace, gratitude or not, I trust you will be encouraged and reminded again of the goodness and hope found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The first word we consider is guilt. This is not a word we all enjoy hearing or thinking about, but it is true and necessary for us to know.

We are born into this world as sinners and stand guilty before God. We are guilty because we break God’s law. We do not perfectly, personally, and perpetually love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The same can be said about our love for our neighbor. The apostle Paul highlights the guilty standing of all mankind and the punishment due to us when he says, “and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…and were by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1,3).

We stand before God condemned and deserve the punishment of death. This is not good news.

We then come to the second word, grace. This is where we find the good news. Paul continues by saying, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5).

As lawbreakers, who are dead in sin, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But God! God graciously makes us alive in Christ not by our doing, but by the work of Jesus for us through His life, death, and resurrection. “This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

What a joy to look to Christ in faith as the resurrected Savior and find forgiveness and righteousness in Him.

This joyous news of salvation in Christ brings us to the final word, gratitude. As those who have experienced the saving grace of God in their lives, we want to respond.

We want to say thank you. How do we do this? Gratitude. Paul finishes by saying, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God has prepared good works for us to be busy doing. These good works are not for the purpose of securing God’s favor and acceptance. No, they are works of gratitude and worship to God for the life He has freely given us in Christ.

I have found these three words helpful in not only explaining and understanding our great salvation in Christ, but also in understanding the daily life of the Christian. As Christians, we are not completely free from sin.

While sin no longer has a hold on us and we are no longer slaves to it, we still struggle with sin every day. When we sin, we feel the weight of our lawbreaking.

This is what God’s law does. Over and over again, it shows us our sinfulness. But it does so not to drive us to despair, but to remind us of our need for Christ and the joy that is ours in Christ.

Rejoice in the knowledge that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ! As we are reminded of our Savior, and His finished work for us, we are grateful and long to worship Him with our lives.

Guilt, grace, gratitude. When you sin and fail, be encouraged in the hope of Christ, and by His grace live a life of gratitude for the free gift of salvation.