Jesus, by the grace of God, has tasted death for every man. Jesus Christ, Grace Incarnate, has shed His blood of redemption for us, according to the riches of His grace. Our salvation rests solely upon the grace and purpose of God.
Because of God’s grace and by this grace believers receive the free gift of salvation, resulting in our justification. This means that God now sees us as if we had never sinned! But this is not true for those who deny Jesus and abuse His grace.
Therefore, we must never interpret the freeness of God’s grace as a license to sin so that grace may abound. God forbid! Grace doesn’t teach us that sin is acceptable and not serious. On the contrary, grace reveals itself in a changed life. This is a process, a progressive change, no doubt, but a change none-the-less.
To see no change in a person’s life after ‘receiving Jesus’ could indicate that they have received the grace of God in vain. I thank God for His promise that His grace is more than sufficient in spite of my human weaknesses! It is the empowering grace of God that enables me to walk with Jesus every day. His grace is there for you and me whenever we are in need.
As we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, He grants us His mighty grace. May our gracious and compassionate Lord draw us closer to Him, and by doing so, enable us to walk in the way that grace teaches us to walk.
Pastor Ray,
Amen!
A story about grace… A deacon from a Greek Orthodox church once asked me at a bagel store “What is grace?” I felt he was setting me up for something but I still answered him referring to some Bible verses. He shook his head saying “God IS grace. But grace is used as an excuse to sin in today’s world”. He went on:
1) Have you read the letters written by the early church fathers? Ignatius, Clement, Augustine…. (long list). These men received their insight through tradition which is not covered in your Bible. You “sola scriptura” born again’s close your eyes…
2) Do you fast? Do you fast before Easter? Do you follow the ten commandments? Do you follow all sacraments?
3) Do you?
4) Do you?
5) Do you?
etc….
Too long of a “do you?” list to cover. My response was:
What I “do” is because of what He did. I love because He loved me first. I am not sufficient but His grace is. He saved me through no part of my own. If He had not said “It is finished” I would be finished…
He shook his head again saying how today’s “religions” are dangerous and are distorting true orthodox Christianity. He then invited me to his church, gave me his deacon business card saying: “Well, I can see that you are still a good man… ”
“No I am not.” I responded. “Thank God for His grace!”
I could hear the Jeopardy buzzer go off in his head saying “Wrong answer!”
God bless,
JoseM