Awesome God, You’re so good. It’s weekend already and all I can recall now is a bunch of conversations with friends on the Christian faith – lots of sharing. One of the pictures I tried to paint was Grace. The picture:
Sometimes God chooses to respond quicker to our simple faith than our excessive works. Just like a Christian gathering, often of two typical categories of attendees – those who came fully prepared: probably been fasting: maybe long expecting, and those who just showed up: maybe not even bothered. After the conference, you’re given a bulletin with testimony corner, and you begin to see stuff like: “I just showed up for the conference, and …”, the testimony corner then goes on and on in similar track, you even see stuffs like: “I didn’t even know there was a conference, my friend pulled me along … now God’s healed my back”. Hahaha, Awesome God. That’s grace.
Now just take a minute to imagine; if we had to work for everything independent of God’s enablement, what need would there be for Grace. That’s why God frequently reminds us of the essence of, and demonstrates the sufficiency of grace – his gift which introduces the presence of Jesus.
In Luke 19:1-10, we see the Zacchaeus story. You can imagine a typical day with Jesus on streets would mean a crowded street with enthusiastic folks. But for wee Zac, climbing a tree was just about it – enough. Instead of the crowds, Jesus reaches out for Zac, “I’m coming to your house”. Without much teaching, Zac is converted (verse 8).
We see another full demonstration of grace in John 9. Jesus heals a blind man, the Pharisees are grumpy about it and the fact that Jesus hadn't kept the Sabbath (verse 16), the parents are scared of losing their religious titles/status (verses 18-23), but for the healed man (not showing any interest in the religious dispute) his explanation in verse 25 was “I was blind now I see”. Halleluyah. Was blind, Jesus shows up, I see. Amazing grace.
So, grace is not something we experience once: when saved, it is also the expressed love of God we experience in our everyday life. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8), we are also sustained by God’s grace (2 Corinthians 12:9). John 1:16 >>
May the fullness of the presence of Jesus release an increasing measure of God’s grace in your everyday life, Amen!
Remain forever blessed.
Sometimes God chooses to respond quicker to our simple faith than our excessive works. Just like a Christian gathering, often of two typical categories of attendees – those who came fully prepared: probably been fasting: maybe long expecting, and those who just showed up: maybe not even bothered. After the conference, you’re given a bulletin with testimony corner, and you begin to see stuff like: “I just showed up for the conference, and …”, the testimony corner then goes on and on in similar track, you even see stuffs like: “I didn’t even know there was a conference, my friend pulled me along … now God’s healed my back”. Hahaha, Awesome God. That’s grace.
Now just take a minute to imagine; if we had to work for everything independent of God’s enablement, what need would there be for Grace. That’s why God frequently reminds us of the essence of, and demonstrates the sufficiency of grace – his gift which introduces the presence of Jesus.
In Luke 19:1-10, we see the Zacchaeus story. You can imagine a typical day with Jesus on streets would mean a crowded street with enthusiastic folks. But for wee Zac, climbing a tree was just about it – enough. Instead of the crowds, Jesus reaches out for Zac, “I’m coming to your house”. Without much teaching, Zac is converted (verse 8).
The presence of Jesus is the initiator of transformation.
We see another full demonstration of grace in John 9. Jesus heals a blind man, the Pharisees are grumpy about it and the fact that Jesus hadn't kept the Sabbath (verse 16), the parents are scared of losing their religious titles/status (verses 18-23), but for the healed man (not showing any interest in the religious dispute) his explanation in verse 25 was “I was blind now I see”. Halleluyah. Was blind, Jesus shows up, I see. Amazing grace.
The presence of Jesus is our connection to victory.
So, grace is not something we experience once: when saved, it is also the expressed love of God we experience in our everyday life. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8), we are also sustained by God’s grace (2 Corinthians 12:9). John 1:16 >>
May the fullness of the presence of Jesus release an increasing measure of God’s grace in your everyday life, Amen!
Remain forever blessed.