Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today let’s grab hold of God’s grace.

Today’s scripture, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NLT), shares Paul’s testimony…
[8] Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. [9] Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Consider…
I am of the opinion that God’s GRACE is one of the most challenging aspects to grasp. Regardless of if it’s…
God’s
Redemption, Righteousness or Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense

GRACE is hard to wrap our heads around.

Perhaps our struggle stems from us ascribing Ted Hughes’ philosophy that…
Nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for. For every profit in one thing, payment in some other thing. For every life, a death.

Mr. Hughes wasn’t wrong, we just didn’t recognize that JESUS PAID IT ALL!

Romans 3:23-26 (NLT) attests…
[23] For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. [24] Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. [25] For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, [26] for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

God didn’t change His standard, He sent His Son as the sacrifice to help us meet it.

1 John 2:1-2 (NLT) explains…
[1] My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. [2] He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

These verses show God’s grace, in that although we’re dead wrong in our sin, Jesus gave His life to make us right with Him.

As I continued to try to grasp GRACE, the Holy spirit reminded me that one thing we miss is the fact that GRACE is the choice of the benefactor, not the beneficiary. He showed me this fact in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 (NLT), which explains…
[9] For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. [10] Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.

Then, to make sure it was abundantly clear to me, the Holy Spirit led me to Ephesians 2:3-5 (NLT), which testifies…
[3] All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. [4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

It doesn’t get more clear than that. God’s GRACE is because of His love and mercy, not anything we’ve done.

By the way, these two scriptures also validate Mr. Hughes hypothesis of, “for every life, a death.” However I don’t know if Mr. Hughes or we understand God’s perspective on that fact.

Hebrews 10:10-12 (NLT) explains…
[10] For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. [11] Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. [12] But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

GRACE is a once and for all proposition. It is the finished work of God.

Recall Ephesians 2:5 declared, “It is only by God’s grace that YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED!”

This struck a chord with me, which is GRACE completes versus competes. This is important because we live in a world that strives to achieve, but serve a God who says only believe.

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:21 (NLT)…
[21] I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Perhaps our struggle with grasping God’s grace is that it’s unbelievable, as Kirk Franklin sings…

How could someone like you, love someone like me
Full of mistakes and insecurity,
When you look in my heart, tell me what do you see, that makes you
love me so?
Is it the nails that pierced in your side?Or the moment you dropped your
head and you died,
For a sinner like me, you gave up your life;
It’s time to let you know

Lord I, surrender
And I give you, all i have
It’s not much but I hear you, calling
So hear I am
Standing in Your Grace

You see, God doesn’t deny the fact that His GRACE was expensive, but He wants us to accept that it’s freely given.

That makes me think of a lifeguard saving a drowning person. The lifeguard can’t help until the person drowning stops flailing and fighting in fear. Once the person places their faith in the savior, they can and will be saved.

Which brings me to the last truth about God’s grace that the Holy Spirit wants us to grasp, which is it’s sufficiency.

Recall, I mentioned GRACE is the finished work of God. Well, that means when Jesus told Paul in today’s scripture, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”, He was saying stop worrying I’ve already handled it for you.

The Holy Spirit wants us to remember that no matter what we encounter, God’s already saved us by His GRACE. As a matter of fact, the Holy Spirit showed me 1 Peter 3:18 (NLT)
to reinforce Christ’s life saving effort…
[18] Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.

With this verse, the Lord said my GRACE is sufficient to bring you home safely. Accordingly, we don’t have to worry because as Paul said in Philippians 1:6 (NLT)…
[6] And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Our entire life with God is a GRACE Immersion. So stop fighting and flailing in fear, and instead relax and allow God’s grace to become abundantly clear.

Today’s song is…
If Not For Your Grace

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)