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Key Bible Verse: He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy (Titus 3:5). Bonus Reading: Ephesians 2:4-9

A young man and his wife opened a coffeehouse as a ministry in a run-down part of town. The lease for the property was reasonable. They invested money, long hours, and sweat in improvements, steadily gained customers, and then took the risk of expanding to a similar neighborhood across town.

Their first landlord now decided her now-improved property should bring a much higher rent. The couple had understood their lease wouldn't change, but an attorney said the contract language was "open to interpretation." Since they couldn't justify the expense of going to court, they were forced to move out of the first store. But the new store couldn't begin to pay the mountain of debt from both start-ups. They saw no hope of avoiding bankruptcy.

Then the young man's mother, a small business owner herself, visited and asked to see the shop's books. As each debt was identified, she wrote out a check—to a total of some $50,000! Their debts were erased.

Now when conversation in the coffeehouse turns to faith, this young man tells the story of his mother's sacrifice. That, he explains, is an earthly picture of how his heavenly Father erased his ultimate debt.

—Sam House in HomeLife

My Response: I'll thank God for delivering me from my moral bankruptcy.

Thought to Apply: Our faults are like a grain of sand beside the great mountain of the mercies of God. —Jean Baptiste Vianney (French priest)

Adapted from HomeLife (Lifeway, 4/03) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

I'm blown away, Lord, by your gift of salvation, which I could neither earn nor repay. I'll be forever grateful.

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