Grace

For it is by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Every Christian should consider that grace is a gift that God does not have to give but chooses to lavish on his children. Some refer to grace as God’s unmerited favor even though the scriptures refer to grace as a gift of God. Another way grace can be defined as the seemingly effortless manner of maintaining favorable relationships. Without a doubt you can say grace is the way God impartially expresses his love towards everyone.

Some say God’s grace is a blessing to mankind.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that came to give his life as a ransom for many Matthew 20:28. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The life of God’s son was a sacrifice and a demonstration of God’s grace to restore his relationship with mankind.

Man was hopelessly lost because he was unable to completely obey the law of God. The sin nature in us is overwhelming at times and that nature kept mankind captive to the slavery of sin. Sin is a cruel taskmaster for it has a firm grip on your life and would prefer to kill rather than give you the freedom to serve God.

Compassion is one of those graces God has, for compassion has the desire to relieve the victim’s pain and suffering. Man was destined to die and go to hell because sin had a firm grip on his or her life. Jesus Christ shared in our humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death and to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death Hebrews 2:14-15.

Our conscience became our next enemy for our guilt of sin remained and no matter how many sacrifices we made we could not atone for our sin. Without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness which meant the person who sinned had to die. For that reason Jesus Christ became the atonement Lamb sent by God to substitute his life as the penalty for the sin mankind committed.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! Hebrews 9:14

As Moses dipped hyssop into the blood of the covenant and sprinkled the instruments of worship so Jesus sprinkled his blood on the instruments of worship. Since the born again believer becomes the instruments of worship the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our conscience of our sin. Our sins are forgiven, atoned for and forgotten.

By the grace of God, Jesus Christ willingly shed his blood to atone for your sin and took another step to set you free from the slavery of sin. With his blood he purchased men for the kingdom of God and gave us the freedom to serve the living God.

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17

God’s grace is without end because of his generosity. Consider when Jesus Christ was racked with excruciating pain on the cross for our sin he had the grace to say forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Grace did not depend on how Christ felt at the time but on a choice to love the man who turned his back to him.

God has the grace of discipline that wants you to become his disciple. As his child he wants you to learn and adopt his mannerism to live by and demonstrate the love of God. He wants you to love one another and forgive them if necessary seventy times seventy.

For the most part I don’t believe that God would ask the majority of Christians to die physically but to die to self and the world. We may be a part of the world and we may desire the things of the world but when it is all said and done you are just one person in the boat of life going to their eternal rewards. However, the Christians in this boat has the hope of glory and know where they are going, those without Christ don’t.

The whosoever’s of this world has the ability and choice to acquire God’s grace. They also have a command to consider everyone else more important than themself. The grace of God gives you the knowledge of where you are going and with God’s help you should have the grace to help them obtain the grace you have in Christ. Share the mercy of God and his loving kindness with those who do not have him as their Savior.

Grace is not a gift you are able to keep but a mannerism you develop to share with everyone you encounter in life. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ but let us not forget that Jesus Christ lives in you. Therefore, Jesus Christ should be the person the world sees in you and his grace allows the world to see him by the way you live.

Still there is another grace that we cannot compete with. It is a grace of God’s generosity to give what no one else can give. God has plans for mankind that doesn’t involve pain or harm. Instead his plans are to give us prosperity with a hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11. His plans are to give us a continuous life in a place where sin is not tolerated and the graces of maintaining relationship with God and fellow Christians is common place. Jesus said, I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance John 10:10. This life Jesus spoke about was such that you would never die or perish from God’s sight. Eternal life is another form of grace demonstrating that God is pleased to give you eternal life in his kingdom Luke 12:32.

Grace is all about sharing love with one another using love as a way to avoid severing relationships with one another. Grace is the agape love of God that compels you to serve the needs of others just as God shed his grace on us to prevent all of mankind from perishing. By the same token we are to develop the grace of God to attract the world to God by the demonstrating the love of God.

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