Do you remember the old slogan for Avis Car Rental? Hertz, apparently, had taken the top spot on the list - and of course, they let people know: “We’re #1!” Avis’ approach was intriguing to me. They were like: “We’re #2…BUT WE TRY HARDER.”

While there’s something to the idea of trying your best, in my experience I have found that by adopting this motto in our spiritual growth, more often than not what you end up with is frustration and guilt and at times the feeling like it’s not worth it and the temptation to just walk away and give up.

You see the symptoms of folks teetering on that edge. They neglect time with God. They stay away from God’s people. Worship is - at best - an afterthought.

That very well may come from a lack of understanding what GRACE is, specifically what the PURPOSE of grace is.

We’ve talked a lot about grace recently. And ultimately we understand grace to be the thing that saves us. But is there something else grace does? We’ve touched on this a bit before, but what I, as your pastor, am excited to show you today is how grace is the thing that helps us BE who God designed us to be - How to be SAVED and how to BE saved. and WITHOUT doing the Avis thing, trying harder in our own power.