“From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ” (John 1/16-17).
We were down at the beach yesterday teaching our grandchildren how to ride the waves with a boogie board. We showed them how the waves came in sets and to look out for the one that had enough energy to give them a good ride to the shore.
Living the Christian life is like those waves that pile on top of one another, only it is grace or blessings that keep on piling on top of us, one after another.
It goes like this. When we sin against someone, we struggle but we repent of what we did and we receive grace from God to go and ask them to forgive us (Matt. 15:18). The person sinned against grapples with forgiving that person but they receive grace from the Holy Spirit to forgive.
Both are encouraged to seek forgiveness and forgive knowing that God has forgiven them of sins they have committed and has said: “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (Heb. 13:5 NLT). The two are mutually reconciled because of the power of grace - grace upon the sinner and grace upon the forgiver.
There are 4 steps to living grace upon grace:
Believe in God’s word that He freely offers grace in abundance. “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!” (Isa. 55/1).
Surrender to this grace. “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).
Use the power to the Holy Spirit to kill off sin in your life. “If through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live” (Rom. 8/13).
Choose to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, have grace operating in every area of your life and demonstrate the qualities of a godly character. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Gal. 5:22-23)
*All quotations are from the NLT.
Comments