What is Grace??

"What, then, is the grace by which we're saved and under which we live?  Grace is God's free and unmerited favor shown to guilty sinners who deserve only judgement.  It's the love of god shown to the unlovely.  It is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him. 

Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part.  To say it another way:  Grace and works are mutually exclusive.  As Paul said in Romans 11:6, 'if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.'  Our relationship with God is based on either works or grace.  There's never a works-plus-grace relationship with Him.  

Furthermore, grace doesn't first rescue us from the penalty of our sins, furnish us with new spiritual abilities, then leave us on our own to grow in spiritual maturity.  Rather, as Paul said, 'He who began a good work in you [by His grace] will [also by His grace] carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus' (Philippians 1:6, NIV).  

Paul asks us today, as he asked the Galatian believers, 'After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to obtain your goal by human effort?' (Galatians 3:3, NIV).  Although the issue of circumcision was the specific problem Paul was addressing, notice that he didn't say, 'Are you trying to attain your goal by circumcision?'  He generalized his question and dealt not with the specific issue of circumcision, but with the broader problem of trying to please God by human effort, any effort -- even good Christian activities and disciplines performed in a spirit of legalism." 

~Jerry Bridges~ 

    Isn't it amazing that we serve such a gracious and loving God.  It is not by works of righteousness that we are saved, but it is all because of Christ who chose to sacrifice Himself for our sins, redeeming us from eternal damnation.  What love!  What grace!!  What mercy!!! 

Are you relying upon yourself for salvation, or are you trusting in Christ who ALONE, by His grace, sets us free from bondage?!

~Grow in Grace~ 

(2 Peter 3:18) 

Does He Care?

"The good news of the gospel is that God's grace is available on our worst days.  That's true because Christ fully satisfied the claims of God's justice and fully paid the penalty of a broken law when He died on the cross in our place.  Because of that, Paul could write, 'He forgave us all our sins.' (Colossians 2:13, NIV). 

Does this mean God no longer cares whether we obey or disobey?  Not at all.  The Scripture speaks of our grieving the Holy Spirit through our sins (Ephesians 4:30).  And Paul prayed that we 'may please [God] in every way' (Colossians 1:10, NIV).  Clearly, He cares about our conduct and will discipline us when we refuse to repent of conscious sin. But God is no longer our Judge.  Through Christ He is now our heavenly Father who disciplines us only out of love and only for our good.  

If God's blessings were dependent on our performance, they would be meager indeed.  Even our best works are shot through with sin--with varying degrees of impure motives and lots of imperfect performance.  We're always, to some degree, looking out for ourselves, guarding our flanks, protecting our egos.  It's because we don't realize the utter depravity of the principle of sin remaining in us and staining everything we do that we entertain any notion of earning God's blessings through our

obedience.  And because we don't fully grasp that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins, we despair of God's blessing when we've failed to live up to even our own desires to please God. 

Your worst days are never so bad that you're beyond the reach of God's grace.  And your best days are never so good that you're beyond the need of God's grace." 

~Jerry Bridges~ 

(devotional for Monday) 

~Grow in Grace~ 

(2 Peter 3:18) 

Thankful for the Hope That is in Me

    Tonight, I watched a movie that left me speechless from the opening scene all the way until the credits streamed across the screen.  It was a movie that made me want to curl up into a ball and cry my eyes out all night long.  I don't want to become all dramatic on you, but after the long movie came to an end, I was left with feelings of pure hopelessness and sadness.   I saw and observed how the world, without Christ, views life:  a mere coincidence, a chance, full of many "lucky" or "unlucky" events that take place, and then there is just the end...death.

  The movie began with a young girl saying the following:

"Most babies are coincidences.  I mean, up in space, you have all of these souls lying around...looking for bodies to live in...then down here on earth, two people have sex or whatever and then bam, coincidence."  

   The movie then ended with the same young girl stating, 

 "There is no reason for death I guess...death is just death...nobody understands it."

   Basically, the movie was filled with messages like this of hopelessness and sadness.  Life is just a coincidence?  There are just souls floating around waiting to inhabit a body?  Death is the ultimate end?   Sadly, this is what many people do believe.  

   What about being sovereignly created by a Holy God who knew your name before time began?  Not by chance or coincidence were you formed.  What about being made in the image of God Himself, uniquely fashioned for His glory?  Not just souls floating about in space randomly.  What about living life until the end with a purpose and hope which is found in Christ?  Not thinking that we are just creatures on earth trying to survive until our time comes to be buried in the ground.  What about having a joy in knowing that death is not the ultimate end, but it is a means to living in eternal paradise with our great King?  Not that death is just death and that's it.    

  I would much rather wake up every morning knowing that I am breathing because my God and Savior has ordained for me to do so, and not that I just "happen" to be alive, by mere chance.  I would much rather live out my days depending upon my heavenly Father who is in control than to think that I am the master and commander of my own ship.  I would much rather lean on the strength of my great God and Savior than think that I am invincible on my own accord.  I would much rather believe that He has a purpose for me in this world, for His honor and glory than to think that I am just one other soul that is trying to survive and make my way.  I would much rather view the end of my earthly life as just a means to my heavenly, eternal one than to think that I will merely be buried in the ground, uncertain of what comes after that point.  I would much rather know that I am loved with an everlasting love and underneath me are the everlasting arms, than to think that what I see here on earth is all I get.  

   Thank you Lord, for the hope that is found only in you and that I can live each day with a joy and peace that only you can give!  

My hope is in Christ alone.  He is the reason I breathe and live each day.  

Psalms 39:7
"But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Psalms 43:5
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

 Is your hope in Christ? 

The Most Powerful Weapon!

"For the Word of God is LIVING and sharper than any TWO-EDGED SWORD, 

piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow and is a DISCERNER of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

(Hebrews 4:12) 

  

Know your Bible, friends!  It is the most powerful weapon that can be used when facing combat.  Read it.  Know it.  Use it.  

Have a Christ-centered Monday! 

 ~Grow in Grace~ 

2 Peter 3:18

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E

"We do not become more holy by discipline, by dependence, by committing ourselves to God, or by developing Bible-based convictions.  We become more holy by obeying the Word of God, choosing to obey His will as revealed in the Scriptures in all the various circumstances of our lives.  

It's just as true, however, that the discipline, dependence, commitment, and convictions are absolutely necessary to our making the right choices.  We don't make them in a vacuum.   They're determined by convictions we've developed and commitments we've made.  We can make the right choices only through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.  But all these principles and means of spiritual growth find ultimate fulfillment only when we obey God's commandments one choice at a time.  As we do, our righteous actions lead to holy character. 

I recently observed my wife making a quilt.  she first made a number of one-foot "squares", each with a sewn design.  The particular overall design she'd chosen, a mariner's compass, was rather intricate, with each square containing about forty narrow triangles.  Each square was beautiful, a testimony to her sewing ability.  But those individual squares, beautiful as they were, did not make a quilt.  Only by being sewn together with a narrow strip of cloth between each row of squares did they become a quilt.  

Pursuing holiness is like that.  We have the quilt squares of dependence, commitment, convictions, and beholding the glory of Christ in the gospel.  Each one is beautiful in and of itself.  But if we just look at these principles and means of holiness individually, we still do not have the "quilt" of holiness.  What joins them all together to form the "quilt of holiness" is obedience.  And we obey one choice at a time." 

-Jerry Bridges-

(from devotional Holiness Day by Day) 

~Grow in Grace~ 

(2 Peter 3:18) 

 

Hurdles in the Road!!

   This life can be so painful and difficult.  Often, it may seem as if the majority of life is consisted of various trials and hardships.
 
   I look around me at the people I know, whether it be family or close friends, and I see people hurting and suffering from all kinds of difficulties!

   Why are their troubles in life?  Why is it that good people face such turmoil?  Why does it seem like their pain is not going away, but even at times it seems to increase?  Why...why...why?

  I ask myself these questions over and over again sometimes and you know what...I am left with the same answer each time..."Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

  We are to trust in the sovereign Lord.  We are to wait upon Him and be obedient to Him.  We are to continually cast our cares upon Him for He cares for us! We are to continually seek Him and He will fill us up with His truth and peace.

  Yes, I may not always want to "hear" the answers from God's Word which tell us to TRUST and to WAIT upon Him, for often I want to find ways of fixing the problem myself or to bring about a solution RIGHT NOW, but I know that I cannot.  I am not in control.  God is.

   Also, as believers, when we encounter great trials and difficulties, we are, yes, to continually seek the Lord and to cry out to Him, but we are also to LOOK FORWARD to our eternal home and have our eyes upon that.  Often, when we are facing something unpleasant, it is then when we are reminded that this world is not our home.  As Paul says in Romans 8:18,  "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."  It is during the days of distress and pain that we long for that glory in heaven to be revealed to us NOW.

   So, when I face trials and when I see others I love deal with difficulties, it should be a reminder to me that I am to continually depend upon the Lord, to trust, and to wait upon Him even when I do not understand, and also, to long for the day when we will be with our Lord in paradise!  Yet, believers should, ALL of the time, whether during the great times of life or the bad, seek to learn more and more about our Savior, to rest in His promises, and to long for our heavenly home. 

   I believe the reason for trials is then to point us continually to the Lord, for He is our hope, and to also remind us that this world is not ultimately our home.

   Continue this race of faith, dear friends, with strong strides even when a hurdle or two may come along your path!  Cling to the Lord and keep your eyes on the heavenly prize!

~Grow in Grace~ 

2 Peter 3:18 

Suffering Over Sin

Excerpt of Jerry Bridges book, The Crisis of Caring: 

"...a way by which we may enter into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings is through our resolute response to sin wherever we find it, whether in ourselves or in society around us.  Genesis 6:6 says that because of man's sin, 'The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filed with pain.'  Most of the time we view sin in terms of its effects on us, or our family, or friends, or perhaps on the society around us.  We seldom think of sin in terms of its effect on God.  But sin sorely grieves the heart of God.  Sin is a rejection of His law and a rebellion against His authority, bringing alienation between God and man. 


Take, for example, the problem of abortion.  We tend to view this practice as a crime against society, as the legalized killing of millions of unborn children.  Our concern focuses on the injustice toward those babies and the dehumanizing effect on society as a whole.  But is it not God's heart that is most grieved and filled with pain over this crime?  Is it not His law that is broken and the children created in His image that are killed?  


Missionary statesman Bob Pierce prayed, 'God, break my heart with the things that break your heart.'  Pierce saw the physical suffering of vast multitudes in war-ravaged or famine-stricken countries.  And what do we see?  What is the state of our hearts as we view the sin that is so rampant in our society today?  If Christ grieved over unrepentant Jerusalem, does He not grieve over unrepentant America as well?  If we would fully enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, we must begin to see sin from His point of view.  


How do we view our own sin?  To often we see it in terms of its effect on ourselves.  We are irritated with our lack of self-control in succumbing to some besetting sin, or we are disappointed with ourselves over our failure to withstand some temptation, or we are ashamed that we have failed to do what we should have done.  Our response in all of these situations is basically inward and self-centered.  As we begin to see our sin from God's point of view, however, we will begin to grieve over it as He grieves over it.  As we join in His grief, we will also in this small way enter into the fellowship of His sufferings." 


It is a very great book, you should read it.
 

Have a great rest of your Sunday! 

Blessed be Your Name!

Have a wonderful Sunday, friends!  

~Grow in Grace~ 

2 Peter 3:18 

Continually Moving

Philippians 3:12-14 

  "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I PRESS ON that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended (to understand or perceive); but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and REACHING FORWARD to those things which are ahead, I PRESS TOWARD the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  

  As seen from this great passage, the Christian life is one of constant movement!  As Paul writes, the believer must continually PRESS ON, REACH FORWARD, and PRESS TOWARD the goal! 

  The Christian life is not stagnant, meaning it is not motionless, stationary, or slack.  We should be striving to the win the prize, as talked about in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. 

Are you moving? 

~Grow in Grace~ 

2 Peter 3:18 

Watch Your Step!!

   If you ever watch the news, you know that there is definitely a lot of evil going on in the world today.  I have gotten to the point where I don't even like to turn on the news much anymore because of that very reason.  It is so discouraging to hear about all the violence and corruption going on all around us.  As a Christian, I should look at all of what is going on in the World, and it should point me to Christ, and my need for Him, the only One who gives me hope to live another day in this sinful world.  Also, I am to be reminded that this is not my home.  I am to look for that glorious appearing of Christ and to fix my mind on the things above.

    I have heard people ask, when they see all the corruption and evil going on around them, "How can people do such horrible things and how on earth did they get to that point?"

   Well, I believe that the answers to those questions are quite basic and simple.  First, scripture says in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and is desperately sick, who can know it," & in Matthew 15:9, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander".  Man enters into this world with an evil heart and unless the Lord changes that heart of stone to one that is Christlike, he is capable of any kind of evil!

   Secondly, "how do people get to that point", in reference to those who are entertaining sin in their own life.  Well, I can tell you one thing, it definitely did not happen over night.

   For example, how did that man in Kaycee Dugard's case ever become so perverted and wicked?  How could anyone kidnap a young girl, invoke such havoc upon her life, and enslave her to a life of misery for 18 years?   First of all,  this man is trapped in his own sin and needs a Savior, but secondly, this man kept saying "yes" to sin one step at a time.  This man did not suddenly wake up one morning and say, "I think I am going to kidnap some girl and enslave her to a miserable life of abuse and pain," but he did wake up each morning and decided to give in to a pattern of sin, which took time and was accomplished one small step at a time.  

   We often do not realize that it is the "little steps" we take towards sin that in the end can lead us into something much greater.  When we choose to compromise in the seemingly insignificant areas of life or make exceptions, we are really planting a hole for the seed of sin, which then will take root, and will eventually grow bigger and bigger! 

    Friends, NOW is the time to stand your ground and to say "no" to those things which could lead you down a path on which you do not want to tread.  Do not dig that hole in which the seed will be planted and then take root!

    Yes, it may just be one movie that is immoral, or one song that glorifies profanity, or one internet site you happen to stumble upon, or one alcoholic drink...but it is also one STEP!  Instead of entertaining your eyes with immorality in a movie, or listening to a song that repeats 4 letter words throughout, or choosing to stay and gaze at that internet site that is not good and pure for the eyes, or allowing your body to be intoxicated, we are to RUN and FLEE before sin even has a chance to grow!! Yes, even if it may only be 1 seemingly insignificant issue...it is a step which can be very dangerous!

Hebrews 10:26 states,  "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins."


Colossians 3:5 declares, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." 

   Do not keep taking those seemingly insignificant, little steps, say "NO" at the beginning.   Refusing to take that first step is very hard, but it is the most important move.  After having set a pattern of saying "no" and refusing to compromise, it will become apart of you and in a way easier to practice! 

  I, of course, have in no way mastered this practice of saying "no", but I am thankful that my merciful Savior is helping me, showing me, and teaching me to deny sin and to walk after Him.  It is my prayer that I will not say "yes" to those areas in life that would lead me down a path of continual sin.  I hope that is your prayer too dear friends! 

Have a Christ-centered Monday! 

~Grow in Grace~

2 Peter 3:18 

On a Good Day

   The last few days I have started reading Jerry Bridges Devotional book, and it has been so refreshing to read each day.  I want to share what I read today. 

"Consider what you would probably call a "good day" spiritually- when your spiritual disciplines are all in place and you're reasonably satisfied with your Christian performance.  Have you thereby earned God's blessing that day?  Will God be pleased to bless you because you've been good?  You're probably thinking, 'Well, when you put it like that, the answer's no.  But doesn't God only work through clean vessels?'   Yet how good do you have to be to be "clean"?  How good is good enough? 

When a Pharisee asked Jesus which of the Law's commandments was the greatest, He replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:37-38, NIV).

Using that as a standard, how good has your good day been?  Have you perfectly kept those two commandments?  If not, does God grade on a curve?  Is 90 percent a passing grade with God?  We know the answers to those questions, don't we?  We know that Jesus said, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).  And we remember that James wrote, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2:10, NIV).  

Regardless of our performance, we're always dependent on God's grace, His undeserved favor to those who deserve His wrath.  Some days we may be more acutely conscious of our sinfulness and our need of His grace, but there's never a day when we can stand before Him on our own two feet of performance and be worthy enough to deserve His blessing." 

-Jerry Bridges- 

"Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) 

This was very good for me to read this morning.  How often I forget this truth.  May we boast in the cross and never forget God's sovereign grace and mercy upon us undeserving sinners.  Thank you Lord for saving a wretch like me!  

Have a Christ-centered Sunday, friends! 

~Grow in Grace~

2 Peter 3:18