On rare occasions my devotional reading prompts a word study. This time the topic is vast: GRACE, not a blue-eyed blond as the joke goes, but the grace of God. It is normally associated with salvation. We are saved by grace, not by our own efforts (Ephesians 2:8-9) but the NT use of this word also includes how we live. Galatians is a rebuke to Christians who were saved by grace but trying to live godly lives by rules and their own efforts. As I went through the many verses, God kept saying to me that this life of grace needs clarity. Too many of His children have not realized how important it is to walk in the same way that we were saved — by grace.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, (Colossians 2:6)
This strongly says that since my efforts do not save me, my walk cannot be fruitful if what I do comes from my own efforts. I’m learning to identify those fleshy, old nature motivations as well as stuff that is from the world’s ideas or Satan’s lies, rather than from the Spirit of God. This word study on grace reveals even more, mostly on the positive side. As today’s reading says… If ever human love was tender, self-sacrificing, and devoted, if ever it could bear and forbear, if ever it could suffer gladly for its loved one, if ever it was willing to pour itself out in a lavish abandonment for the comfort or pleasure of its objects, then indefinitely more is divine love tender, self-sacrificing, and devoted, glad to bear and forbear, and eager to lavish its best gifts and blessings on the objects of its love… then put together all the tenderest love, the deepest and strongest and heap on it all the love of all the loving human hearts in the world; then multiply it by infinity, and you will have a faint glimpse of the love and grace of God! This is the grace that came to us through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
And this is the grace that came upon the apostles and early believers and that gave them their ministry. (Acts 4:33; 6:8; 13:43; 15:11; 18:27-28; 20:24 and 32)
Yes, it is the grace that saved all who are His, and it is a gift poured into our hearts that deals with our sin and gives us faith and eternal life. (Romans 3:23–25; 5:2–5;17-21; 6:14; 11:6)
But it is also the gift of God in Christ Jesus that enriches us, giving us spiritual gifts and the ability to serve God effectively. My own efforts cannot do that but my actions in obedience to the Spirit of God are effective and efficient, no matter how weak I am or feel. (1 Corinthians 1:4–8; 15:10, 2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 8:6-7; 9:8-10; 12:9)
Also, grace can be passed on to others, not just by actions of loving kindness, but even by words:
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29)
This is serious truth. Paul said, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:21) and tells me that I am severed from Christ, if I try to be justified by the law; (and have) fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4) This means lots of sweat but no eternal value for it is not motivated by or enabled by God’s grace.
John Piper puts it like this: It is incredibly encouraging that God’s grace is both the inclination of the divine heart to treat us better than we deserve and is (also) the extension of that inclination in practical help.
PRAY: Jesus, we sing amazing grace in terms of being saved, yet rarely claim Your grace as the source of all that we do. Could it be that many of Your people are clueless about grace? Or are we relying on self and don’t realize that grace is more than being salvation? I’m seeing the vital importance of the source and reason for my motives, ideas, words and actions. Fill me with Your Spirit and enable me to live and serve You by grace, only grace.
True story. It happened before Christ came into my life. My first husband, now deceased, worked near home. We had two small children so supper was at a regular time, but occasionally he and his business partner would go for drinks without telling me. When he got home, his supper was cold and I was hot. One day a radio program said that when people do something wrong and get punished, they feel better because that is what they expected. The suggestion was ‘no punishment’ and then they must face up to their guilt.
I never thought of it as being manipulation so tried it. The next time he was late for supper, I warmed his meal and acted as if he was on time. He was puzzled, but he never was late for supper again.
Today’s devotional is about a Christian’s reaction when we fail. It says that discouragement is never a remedy. Just as a child who is learning to walk might lie down in despair when he has fallen, so a believer who is learning to walk by faith might give up in despair when he has fallen into sin. The author adds, “The only thing to do in both cases is to get right up and try again.”
God never says, “Lie down and be discouraged” yet this is often the temptation. Some might feel it is presumptuous and even impertinent to go at once to the Lord after having sinned against Him. It seems as if we ought to suffer the consequences of sin first for a little while and endure our accusing conscience. We might struggle to believe that the Lord can quickly receive us back into loving fellowship even though He says:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:5–9)
This links to the profound truth illustrated by the advice on that old radio show. Grace that God forgives has a far greater effect on repetitive sin than punishment! When I know that He forgives me, I am less liable to do it again. However, when I try to ‘punish myself’ with feeling bad and calling myself an idiot, that has little effect. Not only that, the idea of ‘trying again’ does not work either. If I could succeed that way, I would not need Jesus.
Furthermore, I can see a parallel between those self-directed accusations and my pride. The deeper my pride, the more I tend to punish myself when I fail to be godly in some way. Sin always happens when I listen to such things as “try harder” or “you can do better” or “you are too smart to make mistakes” — blah, blah, blah. Yet when conscious of being helpless and having no power without Jesus, failure is less of a surprise and more of a motivation to rely on Him.
Not only that, the answer is never “get up and try again” but “get on your knees and confess — be forgiven and cleansed.” Regret and self-centered ‘poor dumb and foolish me’ does absolutely nothing. Jesus is my Savior because I cannot save myself. Far more important to realize…
For I have died, and my life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is my life appears, then I also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:3–4)
PRAY: I’m thankful for the lessons in living and walking with You, Jesus. Keeping short accounts means a great boost to spiritual growth. I am not only forgiven but recognize that when I confess sin, You do amazing things to wipe clean my sinful desires. Your love and grace to keep me in fellowship with You is far more effective than my disgust with myself or any motivation to get up and try harder.
The Gospel can be confusing to some if it is expressed like this:
“There is such a thing as having one’s soul kept in perfect peace, now and here in this life; and childlike trust in God is the key to its attainment. We cannot earn it; we can do nothing but ask for it and receive it. It is the gift of God in Christ Jesus” then adds this: “God can bestow His gift only on the fully consecrated soul, and it is to be received by faith.”
If the gift cannot be earned, and the Bible says faith is an unearned gift (Ephesians 2:8-9), then how can a person make themselves fully consecrated with the faith to be able to receive it?
Reading the beginning statement and then the ending statement in today’s devotional shows how much we sinners want to take credit for having Jesus in our lives by saying it was our acceptance of the gift that did it, rather than the gift itself that saved us and give us a heart to say yes.
Of course in the realm of ordinary life, if I am offered a gift and say no thanks, it will not be mine. And if I take it, I cannot brag that it was deserved. I must acknowledge a gift is about the generosity of the giver, yet when it comes to the gift of God, how easy to take credit. People say, “I accepted Christ” as if that is the reason we are saved.
In contrast, the Scriptures say that becoming a recipient happens because of the gift, not because we earned it and can brag about it:
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)
Part of the gift of grace is being made willing to receive the gift. Just as God works in Christians to do His will (Philippians 2:13) He must work in unbelievers because “None is righeous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God…” (Romans 3) No one would say yes if God did not change our thinking and make us willing to respond to His offer and receive the gift. Jesus makes it plain:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16)
Everything in our salvation is a gift. From beginning to end, God is the giver and we are the receivers; and it is not given to those who do great things or are seeking (none do that), but to those who are called and blessed with the gift of faith, even the gift of seeking.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11–13)
Many believe, as do I, that faith in Christ and new life from Christ happen in the same instant and are both gifts of His grace.
The obvious question is then, “Why does God not save everyone?” But that is the wrong question. It should be, “Why does God save anyone?” All sin and fall short. None deserve even the least of His mercies. The great mystery of salvation is that it happens — even to people who will take credit for what Almighty God has done, even those who think they are special or somehow more worthy, even those who know they are not.
I know the importance of receptivity to the will of God and that my efforts to be godly often are motivated by selfish desires to be important or noticed or worthy in some way. It takes a long time to realize that He is not interested in what I do, nor does He reward my self-centered desires or efforts.
Instead, He works in me that I might realize that His goal is that I become like Jesus, totally surrendered to Him. He bears all my burdens, takes care of all my needs. He wants obedience for my sake — because sin only ruins, never nurtures or is good for me. One day, when I see Jesus face to face, I will be like Him. In the meantime, I’m not to rob Him of His glory by claiming, “Look what I did.”
PRAY: Lord, if I have a receptive attitude, it is because of You. If I am trusting You and wanting to live for You, it is because of You. If You were not in my life, I know what I would be thinking and doing. All good gifts are from You and for my good, to change me into what gives You glory and gives me joy and peace. Your salvation is both mystery and incredible blessing — and totally none of my doing. Thank You.
