Saturday, August 17, 2019

Orange Moon Cafe “G.R.A.C.E” (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense)

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe… 


"G.R.A.C.E"

(God's Riches At Christ's Expense)

      
   The root word for "grace" in the New Testament bears the well-known connotation of unmerited favor.  "Charis" means that God, in love, bestows upon us that which we don't deserve because he bestowed upon the Lord Jesus Christ that which He did not deserve.  

   "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).

    "The Heir of all things" first became the heir of our sins (Hebrews 1:2).  The Apostle Paul even declares the Lord Jesus to have been "made… to be sin."   He deserved nothing of the sort, of course, as the spiritual and morally spotless Lamb of God (Hebrews 4:15).  He bore our sins nevertheless, and upon the basis of our Savior's shed blood and forsaken heart, God bestows on born again believers the merits of Christ as our justification, and the blessings of Christ as our eternal provision.

    "But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more than, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Romans 5:8-9).
    "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

   The acronym perfectly expresses the truth: G.R.A.C.E. - "God Riches At Christ's Expense."  A growing awareness of such gracious mercy as discovered in the Scriptures and in God's personal working in our lives will result in a growing devotion to honoring our Lord in every aspect of our lives.  "We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).  Eternity will not suffice in offering enough opportunity to requite God's devotion to us with our own to Him.  Nor does this moment allow us to fully respond with the grateful and faithful love the Lord Jesus so richly deserves.  Thus, we give to Him what we have and what we can, knowing it will never match His devotion to us.  Grace - the beauty of the word and the glory of its meaning sounds and resounds forevermore as we remember that God fiercely gave to Christ what we deserve so that He might freely give to us what Christ deserves.

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
(Titus 3:5-7)

Weekly Memory Verse
    "I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men."
 (I Timothy 2:1)

  






















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