Do share it as you are blessed!
Chris
God’s Given Me Great Grace, Great Love
Hurt people, hurt people. Only the loved can love. Without the love of God, we are all the net product of all our experiences.
Sadly, the number of people who are loved today is quickly declining. Outside of the knowledge of God, we as a society are collapsing when it comes to love. Over 40% of marriages in Canada end in divorce. 14.6% of children come from common law families, which more often than not end in some sort of separation.
Then there are the gay families…
How will these love if they have such a perverted view of love? We think we know Jesus loves us but we are just starting to fathom the depths of His love. Drugs, crime, bullying, broken relationships, financial ruin and other forms of unwholeness are a testimony of our need to understand His love.
Jesus beyond forgiveness of sins, came to restore, to bring back, to recover everything that was lost in the Garden of Eden.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; (NKJV)
Grace is Much More…
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Jesus is a TYPE of Adam, a man made in perfection. This Man of perfection came to do what Adam did not and in place came to die the death that Adam and the rest of us deserved.
15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
The grace of God is manifested in the gift of grace, Jesus. God gave His Son for the salvation of the world. God so loved the world that He gave. The gift only needs to be received. Do you have to pay for a gift, especially a free gift? Do you have to pay for the gift after you receive the gift?
If I have to do something to pay for the gift, because the giver makes me feel bad about it, its called “emotional blackmail” and that is not love. Unfortunately many of us Christians live like this, as if now that we have been saved, we owe Jesus a debt to come to church, to abide by certain rules, to do certain things to earn God’s pleasure. If our service to the Lord is out of duty, not love borne out of relationship, it will not be sustainable. This explains why some Christians go in circles without growing in the Lord.
16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
NIV says this a little more clearly:
Romans 5:16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. (NIV)
The gift redeemed us from Adam’s sin and all the trespasses that followed!
17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
We need to receive His love, believe His love and the gift of righteousness, before we can reign in life.
18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
The free gift came to ALL men. Gifts have to be received.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
Sin is heightened by law, like how we can be caught for speeding only where there are speed limits. Yet wherever there is sin, there is much more grace.
21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (NKJV)
Grace reigns much more than sin ever will. Ever wonder why, if this is true, that many in the church are so enamored with the avoidance or the conquering of sin?
Love We Cannot Fathom
1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Ignorance can kill you. It can make you into a blasphemer, persecutor and cause you to be insolent.
It will be default of knowing the Word of Christ leave you without faith (see Rom 10:17).
14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
God’s grace was exceeding to Paul! God did that to show longsuffering to one who did not deserve it. If He can forgive Paul and turn him around into a great man of God, how much more can He do with us?
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (NKJV)
It’s the kind of grace that makes you just want to worship Him and give Him glory.
If we don’t feel like Paul does, it’s time to get a dose of what Paul realised. Such realisation is called “revelation”.
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