GRACE-FORGIVENESS (part-5)
As the recipients of God’s grace, Christians are to be gracious to others.
Grace is given to us so we can serve others, and participate in building
up the church by making use of our spiritual gifts from the Lord.
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each
of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance
with your faith;
(Romans 12:6)
Surely you have heard about the administration
of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
(Ephesians 3:2)
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s
grace given me through the working of His power.
(Ephesians 3:7)
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ
apportioned it.
(Ephesians 4:7)
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to
serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various
forms.
(1 Peter 4:10)
Now that we have seen more about grace, it requires a change in our
mindset, doesn’t it? It is not easy for us to stop focusing on our ideas
regarding justice, and instead, accept and embrace God’s definition
of His justice. It means that we must learn to have an attitude toward
others that God has toward them, and us.
It also means that instead of trying to change others, we learn to accept
them ‘as they are’ and leave the ‘changing’ to God. That doesn’t mean
we approve or accept their actions, but it does mean that we accept other
people as God’s creations, and realize that He is the only One who has the
‘right’ and ‘authority’ to effectively change them.
When we start thinking this way, we find that it removes the pressure
we can put on ourselves when our primary focus is expecting obvious
changes in others due to the things we do or say. Instead, we can relax
with the knowledge that our challenge is to love and accept them as
they are.
We can tell others how God blesses us and about our relationship with
Him, instead of trying to think of just the ‘right words’ which will cause
them to feel guilty for their sins, and motivate them to have a desire to
make changes in their lives.
At the same time, it gives us a new perspective of how God views us and
what He expects of us. When we make His ‘justice system’ applicable to
our own lives, we get a better understanding of the importance of His
grace.
As a result, we appreciate and are grateful for His free gift to us, and
we understand the kind of relationship He wants with us. When we
have a change in our attitudes, we will want to have the same type
of relationship with God that He wants with us.
Grace is not, and was never intended to be, something we have to earn
from the Lord. It is His ‘love gift’ to us, so we need to gratefully accept
it, and pursue the things He wants of us (which includes making use of
two other gifts He has given us – a special spiritual gift and the Holy Spirit).
God knows how we need to be strengthened in order to serve Him, so He
equips us for service with these two valuable assets.
Our attitude should be
“I want to serve the Lord out of my
appreciation for all He has done for me”
and not,
“I want to serve the Lord in order to gain
favor with Him and cause Him to love me more”.
It has been said that,
“God cannot love us any more than He already does,
and He will not love us any less due to our bad choices”
He already loves us to the fullest, and because of His love,
God will not hesitate to discipline us as needed. It is for our
good, and not as a means of punishing us, or loving us less.
God shows His love to us through grace. Why would we say that?
Because forgiveness is the foundation of grace, and He willingly
and lovingly forgives us whenever we confess our sins, and commit
to following His Son, Jesus.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9)
God has shown us the impact His grace can have on us. We can
receive salvation (and be with Him eternally) because of His grace.
And, after He seals us for an eternity in Heaven, we can appreciate
His grace even more.
Why? Because we know that He loves us so much that He wants to
mold us into becoming more like His Son, Jesus. The process of our
transformation can be painful at times. Why? Because we need God’s
discipline in order for us to overcome the temptation challenges in
our lives (which can lead to sinful actions, even after we have been
saved).
Think about this:
God loves us so much that He chooses to spend time with each
of us individually, so He can transform us from leaning toward
a world of sin, to enjoying a new and close relationship with Him.
Could He do anything more to give us confidence that we belong
to Him?
It’s hard to wrap our minds around, isn’t it? How can He accomplish
being involved in the lives with each of us when there are so many in
the world? We only need to remember that He is God, and we need to
stop listening to Satan trying to convince us to apply ‘human logic’ to
‘Godly actions’.
Even if we have been saved for a long time, we have experienced these
kinds of thoughts from Satan, haven’t we? When that happens we have
two choices:
We can either entertain those thoughts, which can cause
us to doubt our salvation, and even the existence of God.
or
We can choose to think positive thoughts like:
I don’t need to logically understand everything about God
and His actions, I just need to trust Him and continue in my
faith that He has created all things, that He is real, that Jesus
died for my sins, that He loves me, that He wants what is best
for me, that salvation is a gift of His grace, that because He
knows me, He will do whatever is necessary to help me in
becoming more righteous so I have a hope for eternity, and
I can enjoy serving Him in this earthly life.
(watch for part-6 of the series tomorrow…as we begin focusing on forgiveness)
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