The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Let Us Have Grace"
Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have entered into rest by stilling our own efforts to make ourselves righteous with God. We rather trust the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as our hope for being accepted with God as His sons and daughters - "the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:22). However, we can "seem to come short" of God's grace if we respond to devilish temptations to exchange the truth of His freely given favor in Christ for any other means of walking with Him (Hebrews 4:1-10). Indeed, while our hands, feet, minds may bustle with activity as we labor in the Lord's vineyard, we must do so with a heart at rest in Christ.
"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
We live for God by living from God, acknowledging our innate weakness to bear "the fruits of righteousness" apart from the life-giving Vine that infuses spiritual life and sustenance (Philippians 1:11). "I am the Vine, ye are the branches… Without Me, ye can do nothing… Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (John 15:5; Ephesians 6:10). We can no more "continue in the faith" apart from God's grace than we could have begun in the faith apart from the same freely given favor, presence, and working (Colossians 1:23). Just as we became "accepted in the Beloved" by God's grace received through faith, so we "serve God acceptably" by the same wondrous bestowal of the Lord Jesus as our consummate and comprehensive Christ through whom we can do all things (Ephesians 1:6).
Problems with faith and obedience in the Christian life always stems from problems with grace. Always. In some manner, the failing believer fails to access God's freely given motivation, leading, and enabling to live according to the his Lord's will. Little wonder the Apostle Paul identified such lapses in terms of a devilish element and influence. Unto the Galatians, tempted to exchange the grace and truth of Christ for the law of Moses, the Apostle Paul chided…
"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1-3; emphasis added).
Our spiritual enemies likely know better than do we ourselves how much God's grace in Christ, rightly known and received, leads to a life of godliness, holiness, and faithfulness. Throughout the history of the church (and before, to a lesser degree), the devil and His minions have been repeatedly bludgeoned by saints who avail themselves of grace as the singular hope for all acceptable service to God. Again, little wonder our enemies constantly seek to "bewitch" us away from grace, as the New Testament so frequently depicts regarding the history of the early church. Yes, the grace of God in Christ that sets our hearts at rest batters our enemies as it empowers our hearts, minds, and feet to "live with Him by the power of God" (II Corinthians 13:4).
"Heavenly Father, You call us to a life so far beyond our human means to accomplish that it would be farcical to attempt apart from "the grace of life" You provide in the Lord Jesus (I Peter 3:7). Through His freely given presence and working, however, we can live in a manner that glorifies You and fulfills Your will. Guide us, therefore, in a growing and guarded awareness that we continue by the same gift whereby we began. And let us ever remember the cost - the cross - that made possible so free a bestowal of Your acceptance, favor, and working in our hearts and lives. Yes, dear Father, let us have grace that we may serve You acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. In the name of the Lord Jesus we pray, Amen."
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."
(II Corinthians 9:8)
Memory Verse
What hast thou that thou didst not receive?
(I Corinthians 4:7)
7280
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