Grace is the means by which God's nature is made dynamically alive in us. The Bible reads "we are saved by grace through faith. It is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8 (italics mine for emphasis)
I had a great conversation on Thanksgiving with my sister-in-laws and niece that gave me an opportunity to explain what it means to be a Christian according to the Bible ... which is misrepresented in much of modern day press, and far too often misrepresented by loud mouth hypocrites who claim to be Christ followers.
They were kind to listen to me for well over an hour. They announced about half way, "We've never heard Christianity presented this way. We grew up going to church as you well know; sitting right beside your husband, but this is new information. You should really blog about this!”
So here it is: the heart of Grace. Feel free to chirp in. I will put Biblical links.
1. God has gifted us with His nature because our nature has fallen from a heavenly nature and is sinful.(There were no objections. We all agreed we were sinful.)
2. God gave us this gift not because we are good but because He is good. (Why then do Christians make it all about "them" instead of "Him"? That was a great question, probably because many don’t understand grace.)
3. Giving a gift because the giver is good is called GRACE and has nothing to do with worthiness of the recipient.
See Romans 3:22-24.
Stop and consider: God graces the goody two shoes and the heathen, with the gift of His nature in Christ; it makes no difference because it is never about the recipient, never, no not ever.
! That point right there will lead us down a vein of thought that goes like this: then why be good? If God gives graces us with His nature not based on our goodness but His, then why be good or even try to be good? We will trace that vein as soon as we firmly establish the heart of Grace.
Just as within a physical body, if the heart isn’t functioning it doesn’t matter where the veins travel. Once the heart is healthy and strong it is amazing to trace the vein of thoughts and how they bring life to the body of Christ.
Hi Pam,
ReplyDeleteIn the advertising and marketing field, the rule of thumb is that a customer doesn't really hear/see/absorb your message or presence until they've had about 33 exposures to your message or product. That may happen in a variety of ways: radio, outdoor billboards, newspaper, internet ads, word-of-mouth, etc. This is true even more so in the past couple of decades when the competition for our attention has multiplied in a way that's almost unmeasurable.
I can completely understand why your sister-in-laws heard your conversation about Grace differently this time. You may have said it in a way that made more sense to them, or their hearts were prepared in a different way, or it hit that magic mark of the 33rd time. Bless your willingness to talk about grace one more time.
I was raised Catholic and went to church alongside my mother and 5 siblings all my growing years. But, for some reason I simply could not "hear" God and his messages there until decades later when I went to a friend's Baptist church. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that you could pray like you talk---in a conversational manner---and not through memorized prayers! I must have been the dumbest kid on the block if the Catholic church taught this and I just didn't pick up on it. Or I left the church right before that 33rd mark, (smile).
Regardless, I'm grateful that you're talking about God's grace and how he graces all of us because HE is good, not us. It's a tremendous gift.
Keep up the good blog!