“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,”
– Titus 2:11-12, NIV
The grace of God can be very obvious. It is seen by all. It is not sophisticated, and you don’t have to jump through any ‘hoops’. Everyone can see it. However, there are a couple of things that will block it. The sins of ungodliness, and the passions of this world system. These will short-circuit His grace– sort of like dumping a glass of water on your computer’s keyboard.
It is ‘grace that teaches’. We learn and take our lessons from handling God’s grace in our own lives. We receive our education from that grace, it tutors us and we grow in understanding as we understand His love for us. Grace comes, and we receive our lessons, and take notes. We begin to understand others, and get a handle on life and all its imponderables.
Grace educates, but legalism never does. The Law has absolutely no ability to educate our hearts and minds. But God’s untiring mercy explodes on us, and we begin to download all that He offers. Learning grace expands us, and we develop abilities that we never dreamed of. We start to do things that amaze us.
One of the most amazing things is that we learn to say, ‘No!’ This is perhaps the ultimate ability–to just say no. Saying ‘no’ means we will not step in that particular direction. We won’t travel down that road. ‘No!’ is in a sense is saying, ‘Yes!’ to what God wants. Learning to do that is what we are doing here.
Grace is so gentle, and she is a perfect teacher. She teaches me to be merciful and forgiving. All that she has, she imparts to me. When I receive from grace myself, I become gentle and joyful and kind. When I receive from grace, I become a much more fulfilled Christian.
There are things that work contrary to this. Ungodliness and the lusts made by this world’s system. The dynamic of grace somehow gets “turned-off” when we get diverted into these sins. And this happens all the time, it seems. But developing a self-controlled, upright and a godly life will give us a deep and eternal perspective.
We are not created for living in a garbage dump. We are royalty–we are meant to rule and reign, as Kings and Queens. We have been made ready by Grace for this place.
Related articles
- Workings of Grace in a Believer’s Life (tyrannusschool.wordpress.com)
- God’s grace (deansdevotionals.wordpress.com)
- Grace for Today (dolanhome.com)
“Grace educates, but legalism never does.” I love that!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your website provided us with valuable information
to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our whole community will be grateful to you.
LikeLike