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The grace of God is not passive or docile as some mistakenly think, it is actually very active in the life of a child of God from beginning to end. We are saved by grace, we live in grace and we grow in grace. As we journey through life and face various challenges and circumstances, God is faithful to supply us with more grace as the Apostle James reminds us in James 4:6 - He gives us more grace...
One of the things the grace of God does is TEACH, yes grace is our teacher. The goodness of God, His unmerited favor, His loving kindness that He's lavished on us, teaches us! So, what does Grace teach us? Grace teaches us exactly what verse 12 of Titus 2 declares - To REJECT ungodliness and worldly passions and To LIVE self-controlled, upright and godly lives today.
I'm sure we've all heard of messages on how to live holy lives, how to shun and overcome sin, combinations and/or variations of instructions, methods and formulas of how to live godly lives. We've even subscribed to rules and regulations, perhaps we've even tried to consciously keep the 10 commandments, only to be disappointed at our failure to do so, and with each failure we've been weighed down with shame, guilt and condemnation. This seemingly vicious cycle has led many children of God to end up living miserable, hypocritical lives, keeping up appearances all the while wondering if God has really forgiven them or if He would really accept them or bless them, or in worst case scenarios, they end up wondering if they are even saved! There is a better way, God's way, the Truth, let God's unmerited favor point it out.
Because of what Christ has done on the cross for us, we have become recipients of God's grace, His unmerited favor, we don't have to perform to be accepted by God. God's grace will always focus our attention on what Jesus has done for us as the basis for our acceptance before the Father and not our efforts as good or as important as we may think they are, (trust me they are worth zero, nada, zilch!). The moment we start trusting in our own works as the basis for being blessed by God, we are walking in full fledged idolatry, we are in essence saying "see God, I can do it by myself, you didn't need to send Jesus"! How insulting is that to the Spirit of Grace? No wonder the Word says "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace" Galatians 5:4 NIV
Grace teaches us to say "NO", in other words to refuse, to reject, to deny, to come against...you get the picture... all forms of ungodliness. The difference is, God's grace is not a set of do's and don'ts like the Law of Moses. Let us be reminded that the Word of God puts grace on equal footing with truth when it says "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" - John 1:17 NIV. Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
So it is safe to conclude that Grace is the Spirit of Christ himself. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Grace and He dwells in us, so our conduct is guided and governed by the relationship we have with the Spirit of Grace that abides in us. Grace teaches us HOW we should conduct ourselves in whatever situation we find ourselves in, grace teaches us HOW to say NO to sin, grace teaches us HOW to live godly lives as we rest in the assurance that we are completely forgiven, accepted and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, again, not because of anything we've done, but because of everything Christ has done.
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Talk about living godly by simply yielding to the Holy Spirit. No wonder Paul also said if you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
May God's grace increase and abound in your life today. Blessings!
This is the Gospel!
ReplyDeleteAmen my brother, and it needs to be preached everywhere!
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