“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
- Psalm 86:15
“The word ‘grace’ thus comes to express the thought of God acting in spontaneous goodness to save sinners: God loving the unlovely, making covenant with them, pardoning their sins, accepting their persons, revealing Himself to them, moving them to response, leading them ultimately into full knowledge and enjoyment of Himself, and overcoming all obstacles to the fulfillment of this purpose that at each stage arise.”
- J.I. Packer, The Most Important 18 Words You Will Ever Know, p. 94
Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,
This past week I’ve been thinking a lot about grace and I was moved by the J.I. Packer quote above. Just think about these things for a moment -
- Grace is - God acting in spontaneous goodness to save us when everything in us was an affront to Him (Romans 5:8).
- Grace is - God loving us when we’re sinful and unlovely (Romans 3:21-26).
- Grace is - God promising His salvation to us by an unbreakable oath (Galatians 3:29).
- Grace is - God pardoning all of our sins- past, present and future (Hebrews 10:12).
- Grace is - God accepting us completely through the thoroughgoing work of His Son (Romans 8:3,4).
- Grace is - God revealing Himself to us by reviving our dead hearts and opening our eyes to His incomparable beauty (Ephesians 2:4-7).
- Grace is - God moving in our hearts so that we might respond to Him (Romans 6:13).
- Grace is - God ultimately leading us into full knowledge of Himself (1 Cor. 13:12).
- Grace is - God ultimately leading us into full enjoyment of Himself (Ephesians 1:7-12).
- Grace is - God fulfilling His purposes for us, no matter the obstacles (Romans 8:38,39).
And as we consider our gracious God, here are some questions for you to think about -
1) How might our deficiencies in understanding grace impede our apprehension of the character and glory of God in our salvation?
2) How might our deficiencies in understanding grace impede our apprehension of the character and glory of God in the salvation of those we live our lives with (family, church, work, etc.)?
3) How might we improve upon our understanding of grace?
4) And how might we anticipate how an improved understanding of grace will affect our lives and and how we live out life with others?
I want to understand and glorify our gracious God more fully.
Dan
1 comment:
"How might our deficiencies in understanding grace impede our apprehension of the character and glory of God in our salvation?"
This is a great question.
In the shadow of the cross, the great apostle instructed us best when he wrote: "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith..." (Eph 2:8) Absent of understanding grace we fail to understand the very means of our salvation. Absent of understanding the means of our salvation, we fail to understand the Gospel. Absent of understanding the Gospel we fail to understand the God who brought it to us.
Keep preaching the Word, brother!
Brad
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