The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Why Grace?"
Part 10 - The Finisher
Why grace? Because God's freely given favor in the Lord Jesus Christ finishes what it starts.
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
Are we "confident of this very thing?" We should be. "God is faithful" (I Corinthians 1:9). We must. "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). Indeed, to the degree we trust in the faithfulness of God significantly determines our own faithfulness to Him (II Corinthians 3:18). Our enemies ever seek to dampen such confidence, knowing better than we do how much our expectation affects our response to the Lord. If we forget His promise to finish the work, or if we reverse the emphasis of godliness from Him to ourselves, discouragement inevitably ensues. This fosters disbelief and disobedience, and the sad fruit of a lesser experience of God's dynamic presence in our lives. "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).
"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10). We do well to remember, affirm, and encourage each other with the blessed truth of being God's project to maintain and finish rather than our own. We certainly play a significant role of response in the blessed matter, and our confidence enables our access of the Divine power source of all faithfulness. However, we will not venture far down the path of righteousness apart from maintaining awareness that we are "His workmanship." Why grace? Because God finishes what He starts, and we most faithfully play our role in the blessed matter by...
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."
(Hebrews 12:2)
"The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of Thine own hands."
(Psalm 138:8)
Weekly Memory Verse
We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(Romans 5:2)
5982
No comments:
Post a Comment