WATCHWORD:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14
Meditation:
Some More Grace
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 — So, what does this favorite Bible verse of all, the most repeated and recited passage, have to do with grace?
EVERYTHING!
That’s right. Grace is God’s love for us. Yes, you and me, with our dirty hands, our lying tongues, and our wandering minds, we are loved by God. You want confirmation? John has it. Look at John 1:16: From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.
Dig into your memory of that wonderful time on some beach, somewhere. The sand is soft, the sun is warm, the water cool, and waves come, one after another, without ceasing. Just like the graces, the blessings from God, showing His love for us.
Remember the ‘fanny pack’, the cool little case that you wore around your waist? Some had multiple little pockets, a place for your passport, your phone, etc. I have an old picture of my wife and I at what is called a kissing-gate, on a “fell-walk” around Lake Derwentwater, in the Lake District of England, 23 years ago. If you look closely at my waist, there it is…my fanny pack! Years after that picture was taken, I came across it and looked in all the little hidden pockets and, guess what? I found a $100 bill, my emergency fund, I had forgotten about it!
Do we forget about God’s graces in our lives? I wonder if we think of grace in the past tense? You know, God has graced us with four lovely children. Or, God has graced me with this and that and that is why we are where we are. You know what we are doing when we think that way? We are showing how you and I fail to understand how abundant a supply of grace is there for us from our Lord. When we do that the result is spiritual poverty. What moment of grace are you receiving from God, right now?
Randy Alcorn, again from his book Grace and Truth, makes this statement: God’s grace didn’t get us going and then leave us to get by on our works. Grace didn’t just justify us in the past; it sustains us in the present and will deliver us in the future.”
Isn’t that a reassuring statement? But, do you believe it? If we truly are convicted of God’s grace, even just a tiny bit, we would fall down on our knees and weep. Then we would get up and sing and dance, smile, shout, and laugh, and we’d look at one another and say, ‘Can you believe this?!’ Alleluia! Amen and amen.
Bulletin Board:
Charles Spurgeon has this to say about grace: Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, does not for a solitary instant withdraw His hand…the rain of His grace is always dropping, the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the well-spring of His love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail.
Closing Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your abundant, abounding grace. Thank you that we don’t have to earn a drop of the mighty river of grace that flows freely for us today. Thank you for the unexpected, unmerited favor you’ve showered on my life. Help me put myself in the path of your love and grace. Help me not neglect the disciplines I need to meet with you regularly and to drink from the water of life. Thank you for your rich love. Amen.
