"Grace Works!"

(a repeat from 2015)

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

"Grace Works"

    "Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).

    Only the undeserved favor of God provided through the Lord Jesus Christ - grace - can lead us to a life acceptable to Him.  Grace alone changes the heart by enlivening and filling us with the Spirit of Christ.  "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath give us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work" (II Thessalonians 2:16-17).

    It has been said, "There are two religions in the world, grace and works. But only grace works".  This means that God's salvation provided freely in Christ leads to the motivation and enabling whereby what we do proceeds from our Lord's doings on our behalf.  As the Lord Jesus declared of His faithfulness, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work… The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" (John 5:17).  Any other means of seeking to consistently trust and obey God leads to frustration and failure.  "Without Me, ye can do nothing" declared our Savior (John 15:5).  Through Christ, conversely, the Apostle Paul exulted, "I can do all things" (Philippians 4:13).  Grace works, first in justifying the sinner, and then in sanctifying the saint unto a life of sincere and faithful devotion to the glory and will of God.  "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace was not bestowed upon me in vain.  For I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (I Corinthians 15:10).

   We do well to seek ever greater awareness and understanding of God's freely given favor in Christ - "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).  The more deeply we descend into the soil of grace, the higher we ascend unto a heavenly life that is actually the life of Christ revealed in our trusting hearts….

"And now, brethren, I commend you to His grace, which is able to build you up."

(Acts 20:32)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath give us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work."

 (II Thessalonians 2:16-17)

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