We are to be generous with our words, actions, time, money, forgiveness, kindness, hospitality, patience, service, friendship, compassion, skills, truth-telling and love. We can confidently share every good resource in our lives knowing that even as we give away, there is always enough. Because if God gave us Jesus, He’ll also give us everything we need along with Him until He welcomes us home. He is always pouring out more forgiveness, goodness, kindness and blessedness so we can be more of a witness to His generosity by giving away part of what He gives to us. Overflowing cups are not for us to choke on, but for us to let others drink from too.
It All Belongs To God
What you and I have is ultimately not our own; it all belongs to God. Our time is His. Our Talent is His. Our Treasure is His. Little or much, temporary or lasting, tangible or unseen, everything in our lives is the property and possession of God. We have been entrusted to steward it faithfully, dispense it liberally, and credit it clearly to the One from Whom all blessings flow. Our stewardship will not be judged by the amount we are able to give, but by the readiness, cheerfulness and faithfulness of our giving. It is not a matter of how much we have to be generous with, but how generous we are with how much we have.
Wonderful Gifts From An Even More Wonderful God
It is right to enjoy the good gifts of God in the way that He designed them to be enjoyed because that’s why He gives them to us. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches of the created world are supposed to be enjoyed because God made them to send and made us to receive … pleasure. But rather than enjoying them too little (ingratitude) or too much (idolatry), let us enjoy them as they were intended, as a catalyst for treasuring the Gift-Giver far beyond what He might give to us. The gifts that God sends us are wonderful; but they are nowhere near as wonderful as Him.
God Speaks To Us Today
The Bible is referred to as the “Word of God” for a reason: God speaks through it. He says what He wants us to know about Himself and His creation, revealing how He designed the universe to work and what He has decided is best for us as we live in it. He expects us to respond in some way every time we read from its pages… By doing, saying, correcting, believing, feeling, thinking, or sharing something. We are to listen for the voice of Jesus and follow Him the best we know how in any given moment, and strive to know more so we can better follow Him in the moments to come. Doing so brings honor to God and happiness to us.
What He Tells Us To Do
God wants us to be happy. When He tells us in the Bible to do, say, correct, believe, feel, think or share something, it is not to take away our happiness, but rather it is to take away the things that are in the way of our full and lasting happiness. We must trust that God is after our happiness, that He knows best how to bring about our happiness, and that what He tells us in the Bible is designed to lead us into happiness. Doing what God tells us is not always easy, popular or instantly gratifying. But it is always for good, always better in the end than sin, and always the best option for making us truly, ultimately, and eternally happy.
Growing In Grace
There is a three-word description that summarizes what happens from the moment we put our faith in Jesus until the moment we come face-to-face with Him: grow in grace. We are not meant to stay the same or stand still, but to progress in our experience of grace for the rest of our lives. There are countless observations, implications and applications that flow from God’s grace to us, and we have the delightful duty of discovery. Day by day, we are to prize, prioritize and pursue intimacy with Jesus. For progress does not come from fixing ourselves, but fixing our eyes on Him. This is how we grow: we set out to know.
The Point Of Grace Is To Point Us To God
The goal of grace is to unite us to God so that He is honored in us and we are happy in Him. Grace makes it possible for us to personally know God and enjoy Him, along with all of the good gifts that He purposes to give us now and forever. He doesn’t give us what we think will make us happy; He gives us what He knows will make us happy … Himself. Because of the grace of God, we get the God of grace! Therefore, the point of grace is to point us to God, so that we will be satisfied by Him, and He will be glorified by us. God gets the eternal praise that He deserves, and we get the eternal pleasure that we don’t deserve.
To Receive Or Reject Grace
You will either receive the grace of God for your sin or the wrath of God for your sin. There is no third option. Bynature and choice, we sin against God by regularly preferring things over Him and refusing to obey Him, which condemns us to hell. The only remedy is personally receiving the free forgiveness available by faith in what Jesus has done for us, which ushers us into heaven. You get to choose between continuing in sin and continuing with Jesus. Whether you embrace this as the best news ever or dismiss it as foolishness, this is true: You need grace and you can have grace. To reject it is to perish forever; to receive it is to have pleasure forever.
The Riches Of Grace Last Forever
For all who trust in Jesus, there is a glorious eternity ahead in which bad things will be eliminated, good things will be perfected, and the best things will be unveiled. We have an eternity with Him that… Never gets stale. Never gets boring. Never gets routine. Never gets unappealing. Never gets finished. There will always be more to discover and enjoy from the immeasurable riches of God’s grace towards us in Christ Jesus. Don’t live for this day; live for that day. Don’t be discouraged by this day; be encouraged by that day. Take hope in this every day: For those who are trusting in Jesus, the best is always yet to come.
Asking God For More Grace
You are not bothering God when you ask Him for more grace. He isn’t too busy or too disinterested. He doesn’t need to put something more important on hold to help you. Listen… There is no sin so big that God won’t forgive it and no sin so small that God will ignore it. There is no stronghold so powerful that God can’t break it and no stronghold so flimsy that God wants you to get free on your own. There is no problem so significant that God won’t handle it and no problem so petty that God doesn’t care about it. He does trillions of things at once in sustaining the universe. And one of His favorites is hearing from and helping you.
Transformed By Grace
We were made in God’s image to bring glory to Him, but we all sin and fall short of God’s glory which distorts His image in us. Jesus came to display the perfect image of God and glorify Him in ways we did not, and then die in our place to atone for our sin. When we put our faith in Him, He begins restoring the image of God in us so we can bring Him glory. This is what grace does for us: It takes people who don’t look and act much like God and transforms us into people who do. Undeserving sinners are remade into joy-filled, purpose-driven, difference-making, love-giving image-bearers of God. We are who we are because of grace.
As God Gives Us Grace, Let Us Give Him Glory
We require it. We request it. We receive it. We rely on it. But let’s be clear about it… Grace isn’t given because we are great, but because God is. The grace of God testifies to the glory of God. When it is received and rightly understood, it results in worship for the One who gives it. It should prompt in us as receivers a celebration of Him and commendation of Him as a generous, powerful, wise, good, rich, holy and loving God. Those who think they merit what they receive have little praise for God; those who know everything they have is a gift have much praise for God. Today, as He gives grace to us, let us give glory to Him.
There Are No Grace Graduates
There are no grace graduates. None of us get to the point where we no longer need God’s provision. We aren’t who we used to be, but our transformation isn’t complete. We’ve been fruitful, but our good work isn’t finished. We’ve come a long way, but our journey home isn’t over. We don’t move on from grace; we move on because of grace! So, let us confidently call on God for help to joyfully live out His plans, live for what matters most, live with our circumstances and live in this world, not as independent people, but as His grace-dependent people. Until the very end… We will not stop needing. God will not stop supplying.
Grace Leads Us To Seek Jesus
All of God’s gracious actions toward us are designed to lead us toward Him. He means for us to respond to His gifts not by seeking more gifts, but by seeking Jesus … to know Him, trust Him, honor Him, enjoy Him and love Him as we follow Him. Grace enables and encourages us to take steps with Jesus. When we do, we grow in our relationship with Him as we go with Him wherever He leads to do whatever He says. God woos us with His kindness along the way because He wants us to be together every step until we are with Him forever. Certainly, we will take mis-steps along the way; but Jesus will never let us lose our way.
More Is On The Way
Faith in God’s future grace destroys fear, frustration, anxiety, worry, jealousy, envy, vanity, idolatry, insecurity, doubt, selfishness and worldliness in the present. When we trust in all that God has promised to do for us, give to us and be for us, it rids us of what is robbing us of real joy in Jesus. Belief that God knows best, does what is best and will give us what is best moment-by-moment for the rest of our lives sustains us when we have to give up something we want or go through something we don’t want. No matter what happens today, let us be sure of this: Grace is already there and more is on the way.
Gifts Of Grace
God helps us help one another by giving spiritual gifts of His grace to every person in His family. We don’t earn these spiritual abilities; they are gifts. They aren’t all the same; they come in various forms. We don’t let them gather dust; we use them. They aren’t to be used selfishly; they are to be used to bless others. Therefore… We should strive to live full and fruitful lives serving the people in our lives “right here, right now” with the resources we have been entrusted to steward. Do your part today knowing this: One way God shows grace to us is through others; one way God shows grace to others is through us.
God’s Grace Will Call Us To Submit To God …
God’s grace will call us to submit to God’s authority. From the moment we put our faith in Jesus, we will begin a lifelong journey where we yield more and more control to Him as we trust Him more fully in more areas of our lives. For genuine believers, there will be an immediate, increasing, imperfect reception of the new life of joyful obedience and rejection of the old life of sinful disobedience. We will stand by His grace when we get it right and fall into His grace when we get it wrong. Whatever happens today, let us strive to gladly obey Jesus knowing this… He rules for our good when we submit to His rule over our lives.
The Law Is Not Grace, But It Is Gracious
God’s law is not grace, but it is gracious. First, it leads us in this world showing us how God expects us to live in light of how He has designed everything to work. Second, it leads us to Jesus when we are convicted of our disobedience to His commands, and convinced of our inability to desire or do what He tells us. When we put our faith in Jesus, He graciously and progressively overcomes our weaknesses before the law, enabling us to love it and live it. We will obey Him imperfectly, but we can take heart in this… We know that God’s grace is working in our lives every time we willingly do what is right in God’s eyes.
God Does It All
Salvation is received, not achieved. We cannot do anything to deserve it or earn it, not even acts of obedience or righteousness. God does it all… The Father wills it. The Son secures it. The Holy Spirit administers it. What a gift! What a God! He doesn’t help those who help themselves; He helps those who cannot help themselves. From start to finish, it’s all by grace… Chosen. Called. Converted. Completed. Someday every genuine believer will be fully and forever delivered from the presence of sin into the presence of God. Not by us keeping the law, but by Jesus keeping us.
Saved From, Saved For
What does it mean to be “saved” by grace? It means to be rescued from something for something. From sin, for righteousness. From Satan, for God. From punishment, for reward. From death, for life. From hell, for heaven. From wrath, for joy. From brokenness, for glory. We must be rescued because we are incapable of reversing the curse on mankind caused by our sin. God is undoing all of the horrible things that sin has done and replacing them all with good things, beautiful things, joyful things, perfect things, eternal things. All of this is by grace, which means… The only requirement for salvation is sincerely asking for it.
