A Sinner Saved by Grace

Whenever I’m invited to speak, I introduce myself with these simple words, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” It started about 15 years ago when I was asked to address a group of bankers. This was a group of pretty serious-minded people getting together to talk business and expecting to hear about business success from me.

Most members of the audience knew little about me other than my business success. The emcee gave me a long, flattering introduction about my success in helping build an international corporation and listed some of my awards, board chairmanships, and honorary doctorate degrees. It seemed to go on forever. When I finally got to the podium, I thanked him for the generous introduction but explained to the audience that they should know who I really am – “just a sinner saved by grace.” The line just came out, and I’ve been introducing myself with those words ever since.

Some people believe that faith is a private matter, best kept to oneself. But faith is not passive or private. Faith is active and something you live and declare. My faith is inseparable from my business, family, and social life. I can’t turn my faith on or off depending on the occasion or the audience. So I want people to know who I really am.

People continue to introduce me with lists of accolades and describe me by what I’ve achieved in my career. I could take all the credit. But who I am and what I am comes from God. My devotion is to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the end, worldly success does not make us who we truly are in the sight of God. I believe that genuine success – in every aspect of our lives – depends on an unshakable foundation of Christian faith. So my Christian faith is the foundation on which all else in my life rests. My faith is my life’s most important asset.

We’re all just sinners saved by grace. We can’t buy or earn our way to salvation. The good news is that salvation is a free gift from God to all who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

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Rich DeVos is vice-chairman of Gospel Communications. He is also the author of "Hope From My Heart: Ten Lessons for Life," co-founder of Amway Corp., and owner and chairman of the NBA's Orlando Magic.