I am so thankful for this God that I serve. Sometimes I have no words to describe His greatness. Now, is NOT one of those times :)
God has been challenging me so much lately to live each day in His grace, day by day, moment by moment. I have been reading Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love by Jerry Bridges. He is a very wise man of the Lord, and has amazing insights into the grace of God. Lately, I have been struggling with understanding that nothing I do can change the way God sees me. Every time I "mess up" I somehow think (often subconsciously) that God thinks less of me or will withhold blessing from me. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but maybe you can identify. Have you ever had a time where you've felt you've messed up too much for God to take you back and see you just as "clean" as before? I think we all have.
All that to say, that this book is incredible! It is so full of Truth from the Word of God. Here are some of the points that really stuck with me:
"The law of God and the justice of God have been fully satisfied. The debt of our sins has been marked 'Paid in Full!' God is satisfied and so are we" (20).
"Not only has the debt been fully paid, there is no possibility of going into debt again. Jesus paid the debt of all our sins: past present, and future" (20).
"We are brought into God's Kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God's grace" (20).
Until we understand that we are fully and completely deprived and that NOTHING we can do will earn us God's favor, we cannot fully appreciate Christ's redemptive act on the cross.
Christ's death was the result of God's grace; grace is not the result of Christ's death" (22).
Be assured, there will be more to come from Mr. Bridges. It's so much to take in, at least for me it is. I have to "chew" over a lot of this stuff for a while in order to let it sink in. So...how can YOU remember what true grace really is? Easy...
God's Riches At Christ's Expense
Isn't that just nifty?? I knew you'd think so ;)
So, there you have it! God's provision, plan and purpose are absolutely incredible.
Live today in the freedom of grace.
Blessings,
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