Eph. 2:8,9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
I have to laugh thinking back about the CD cover of one of our Victory Fellowship music projects called ON AND ON. It was a photograph of someone (actually it was Missionary James Widener) fully clothed and swimming in the bottomless ocean of God’s love. We were in an unusual season of outpouring at our church and it seemed as if we had all fallen into the bottomless, shoreless ocean of God’s grace. Augustine taught that this grace (his term – sovereign grace) had a profound effect on our soul. It was so sweet and so powerful that it changed the very desires of our heart. It was not only grace that covered us but grace that changed and satisfied our thirsty souls. This grace issues from God Himself and is infinite in nature. Here is how Charles Spurgeon describes it.
“It is not because of anything in them, or that ever can be in them, that they are saved; but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy, and grace of God. Tarry a moment, then, at the well-head. Behold the pure river of water of life, as it proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb! What an abyss is the grace of God! Who can measure its breadth? Who can fathom its depth? Like all the rest of the divine attributes, it is infinite.
God is full of love, for “God is love.” God is full of goodness; the very name “God” is short for “good.” Unbounded goodness and love enter into the very essence of the Godhead. It is because “his mercy endureth for ever” that men are not destroyed; because “his compassions fail not” that sinners are brought to Him and forgiven.”
Falling into this bottomless ocean can be catastrophic to our old plans and way of life. The taste of His grace is our first taste of true authenticity that we have ever known. It attracts us, covers us, converts us, satisfies us, and sustains us. From our first encounter with the grace of God the attractions of this world seem pitiful because we see them for what they are. So go ahead and dive in, you might have a reluctance like hesitating on the edge of a cold swimming pool but once you get in you will never want to come out.