The Receipt That Changed Everything

In 2019, a college student named Marcus sat in a financial aid office at Howard University, staring at a tuition bill he could never pay. He had worked three jobs over the summer — landscaping, stocking shelves, driving deliveries — and still fell thousands short. He had done everything he could, and it wasn't enough. Then the advisor slid a letter across the desk. An anonymous donor had paid his entire balance. Four years. Every penny. Marcus kept asking what he needed to do to earn it, what GPA he had to maintain, what strings were attached. The advisor smiled and said, "It's already done. You just have to accept it."

That moment captures exactly what Paul is telling us in Romans 4. Abraham didn't punch a spiritual timecard and collect righteousness like a paycheck. He believed God — and God credited it to him as righteousness. The promise came not through the law but through the grace-born righteousness of faith.

We are so conditioned to earn everything that grace feels suspicious. We keep looking for the fine print, the hidden obligation, the catch. But Paul is emphatic: to the one who does not work but trusts the God who justifies the ungodly, faith is credited as righteousness.

Marcus couldn't pay that bill with three jobs. We cannot pay ours with three hundred good deeds. The gift has already been given. We need only receive it.