8/21/10

Embracing the Gift of Grace

by Connie Witter

“Most surely will those who receive God’s overflowing grace and His free gift of righteousness reign as a king in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:17 Amplified

What is grace and how do you embrace it?

There are two definitions of the word grace:

Grace is a gift of God. It is the undeserved, unearned favor and blessing of God...
Grace is also the power of the Holy Spirit giving us the ability to walk in righteousness. Righteousness is the gift of grace.

Old Covenant vs. New Covenant

In order to fully understand this awesome gift we must realize the difference between the Old Covenant, which is based on the law and the New Covenant, which is based on grace.

In Deuteronomy 6:24,25 and 7:11-15, we see that under the Old Covenant, God required righteousness through obedience to the law in order to be accepted by Him and worthy of His favor and blessing. However, instead of obedience, man continued to disobey God and so he fell under God’s curse instead (Deuteronomy 28:1-67). We all fell under God’s curse because of our sin. We needed a Savior.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:4 and 5 that in order to satisfy the wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead because of our sins, Jesus died for us. He looked upon us with mercy and said, “Father, I will redeem them. I will make them righteous.”

So Jesus came to the earth and lived a perfect life. He kept the condition of righteousness by obeying all of God’s laws and commands. He was declared righteous in the Father’s eyes. Then He became the ultimate sacrifice. He was willing to take the punishment that we deserved in order to free us from the penalty of our sin. Galatians 3:13,14 state that Jesus purchased our freedom from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He offered to us the gift of His righteousness as a free gift of His grace simply by trusting in the sacrifice He made for us.

When you trusted in Jesus, you became righteous in the Father’s eyes. That means that you instantly became qualified for all the promises and blessings of God. Since you couldn’t meet the conditions of righteousness on your own, Jesus did it for you. You could have never earned or deserved to be called righteous through trying to obey the law. It can only be received as a gift. A gift of love from a Savior Who was willing to sacrifice everything so you could stand before the Father completely righteous. You look just like Jesus in your Father’s eyes because of His amazing grace.


Embrace Grace

So embrace God’s gift of grace. Focus on Jesus right now with a heart filled with thanksgiving and say, “Thank you, Jesus, I receive your gift of righteousness. I am accepted, loved, holy, blessed, favored, and without fault in my Father’s eyes because of Your amazing grace. (Ephesians 1:1-14)

2 comments:

  1. Hi Connie, Good stuff. I like it. I wonder how you would explain, or expound on Matthew 5, particularly vs. 17-48 in this context of Grace as a Promise and not an effort. Just wondering. You can answer this on FB-might be easier. thanks Alex

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Alex, I love talking about Jesus! Matthew chapter 5 when read without understanding the New Covenant of Grace puts us all under the judgement of God. It reveals our need for a Savior. I use to be condemned by the last verse in this chapter. Matthew 5:48 says, "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." None of us have ever been perfect in our actions, but thank God for Jesus. Hebrews 10:14 says, that by His one sacrifice, Jesus made us perfect forever! The more we embrace His perfect righteousness that He gave us as a gift of grace, the more our lives will produce the fruit of the Spirit. By mans effort we can never be made righteous, only by faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross (Romans 3:20-31)
    Jesus showed us how a righteous man lives (Matthew 5), made us righteous through faith in Him, then gave us the power of the Holy Spirit to live a righteous life. I just love Him, don't you?

    ReplyDelete