“For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”—Ephesians 2:8
In the beginning, God made Adam and
Eve to have fellowship with Him and to enjoy everything that He had made. He gave them a beautiful garden to live in
and they had all of their needs met.
However, Satan, God’s enemy, entered the beautiful garden and deceived
Eve into transgressing against the Word of God.
As a result of this deception, called sin, Adam and Eve were banded
from the beautiful garden. As a result
of his sin, God told Adam that that he would now have to work by the
sweat of his face to get anything to eat.
Sin reduced Adam to slavery, and severed his relationship with
God (Genesis 3).
The simplest definition of God’s “grace”
is, the power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The fact is that we cannot do anything for
ourselves. Jesus said, “…without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The grace of Christ in our lives can
accomplish for us what all human efforts have failed to produce. God’s grace is something that He does for the
benefit of His people just because He loves them. God’s grace can never be earned; it is
totally free. God’s grace in our lives
enables us to trust Him. We are
admonished to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ (2 Peter 3:18). I love the
refrain of a hymn that says, “only trust
Him more and more,” and we can because of grace.
The Christian life is
not a life of force but of favor
-
Satan
reduces you to slavery.
-
Jesus
grows you to greatness.
-
Satan
severs relationships.
-
Jesus
develops them.
-
Satan
takes away your choices.
-
Jesus
helps you make the right choices
Daisy Osborn
Prayer—Father,
thank you for your grace in my life.
Through your grace I am able to trust you more and more, in Jesus Name.
Amen.
