Sharon's and Michelle's comments in the previous posting on salvation lead right into this posting on Growth in Grace from 2 peter 3:18. Go there, and I suggest you read the whole of 2Peter chapter 3.
Paul is warning us to keep close to Jesus and to God's word, and never quit learning about Him. However, there are a lot of false teachings and teachers, so be careful. He tells us to "Be careful so we will not fall from our strong faith". In this day and age it would be so easy to "fall away". There is such a thin line between truth and the false. So, we need to stay close to God's word - read it daily - ask the Holy Spirit to teach us. HE IS THE TEACHER! And God's grace is bestowed upon us so we can make it through this time. His grace is a free gift! I'll say it again - a free gift! We don't need to earn it! He gives it freely. We just need to know it's there, and we need to accept it every single day, every minute of our days. Don't have a "lazy faith".
What is the grace of God? The grace of God says you serve God because you're saved, and not in order to be saved. You're not trying to earn God's good graces, you're responding to His Love and Peace.
What is grace? It's what someone gives us out of the goodness of his heart, not out of the perfection of ours. The story of grace is the good news that says that when we come, he gives. That's what grace is.
Grace is a pleasant surprise. Grace is a kind gesture. Grace is something you did not expect. It is something you certainly could never earn. But grace is something you'd never turn down.
You know what happens when someone sees the grace of God? When someone really tastes the forgiving and liberating grace of God? Someone who tastes God's grace is the hardest worker, the most morally pure individual, and the person most willing to forgive.
Always remember that Jesus says, "My grace is deeper than your sins".
"Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see . . . "
Father, how holy and great is your promise. You've been so good to us, but somehow, Father, we find things to complain about, even though we've been given eternal life. Renew our vision; help us to see heaven. Help us to know you even more, and to experience more of your Grace every day!
8 comments:
I love that song Amazing Grace. I used to tell myself that I could not be a believer becasue I wasn't good enough and had done too many bad things to ever be good enough for God to want. But the truth is nobody is ever good enough. God is holy, perfect. I am a sinner. But He loves me, and wants a relationship with me; so he found a way for me to get to Him - Jesus Christ, perfect man / holy son of God. It is a gift that I don't deserve but can claim as my own.
A great book about Grace is Max Lucado's In The Grip of Grace. I highly recommend it as a good read. Have your Bible close at hand.
I think too that living in God's grace also means that the way I see things changes as I become a more mature Christian. Like when you first start the journey, you are like a baby on a diet of milk, easy to digest or in the case of Bible reading - easy to follow the general line of thought/lesson. But then as you start to grow in your faith, the same Bible readings begin to open up new thoughts/lessons because hopefully you have gained a deeper appreciation and understanding about the character of God. It's like moving from the highchair to the kid's table and then finally getting to sit at the big table with all the meat and potatoes. Right now I am on Gerber Graduates, still hanging out at the kid's table.
And then I was thinking of a line out of the book The Shack. God is telling Mack "Love that is forced is no love at all..." or something like that. Meaning that God gives us free will to choose His love or not. Because if we choose to love God, it is genuine. If you haven't read The Shack yet, it is an excellent read.
I love Max Lucado, Michelle. I do a lot of my study and reading from his books and I have a Max Lucado bible, too. A lot of what I post here comes from thoughts and teachings I get from his work. I don't have the book you mentioned here. Thanks for posting here.
I really like the words "grace is a pleasant surprise" (came from one of Max Lucado's books, I'm sure, and it stuck with me.) Grace really is a pleasant surprise. Especially when I can "feel" the presence of Jesus with me. That is the most pleasant surprise of all. Maybe we could all share what Grace experiences we have had in our lives. I'll share mine, if you'll share yours!
Awesome teaching!!
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--" Ephesians 2:8. This well known verse shows the inseparable linkage between grace and faith.
I have always had a difficult time with understanding just what "grace" is. This posting and the comments entered here take some of the fog away.
Let me see if I have it right now, in a nutshell:
Grace is God's loving kindness towards His people, a blessing from God.
Am I close?
Yes, Sharon, I would say so. In my bible I have written "unmerited favor" above the word "grace", so I must have heard or read that somewhere. I think the reason we have such a difficult time with grace is because it's contradictory to our own nature. We give favors that have been earned. God gives us favors that we don't earn.
Yeah, that is grace. In one of the best books I ever read about love called "A Love that Never Fails" by H. Dale Burke, grace is defined as "giving someone something he doesn't deserve." I loved that book so much I bought five copies and gave one to my mom and each of my sisters. If you haven't read it, it is worth the time and effort to do so. You will have to have your Bible close at hand. It is from a series called Guidelines for Living. It is all Bible study.
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