Living Thankfully Because of Grace

4 CommentsThursday Thanks, , ,

Living Thankfully Because of Grace
Are you living thankfully because of Grace? Personally, I need to admit I haven’t thought of that decision so specifically, until now. My almost instant discovery is, that instead of reacting “Wow! I’ve been handed the biggest, best, prize in God’s gift game,” I don’t go on my way bubbling with joy and delight. My response is far closer to “Why did he give this to me? Certainly someone else would be more worthy, and effective for having received it than I am.”
I can’t even truthfully claim the bewildered awe the Psalmist felt when he wrote “What is man that you are mindful of him?”
See how fast our accuser can slither in and twist our thinking? The truth is that no human is worthy of God’s grace. Grace is forever and always undeserved. Fully grasping this fact takes a radical change in my thinking. Given my characteristic stubbornness and self-absorption, that’s a slow, incremental process, which is what sanctification is.

Living Thankfully Because of Grace

Perhaps one of the reasons to be living thankfully because of grace, is that it’s possible to cling to the truth without fully comprehending.
Grace is linked to faith because we don’t receive it if we do not believe in Jesus’ atonement. Of course, belief only comes to us because the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to hear the truth of the Gospel. There is no Gospel without Christ, and He came because the Father sent him. The Father sent Jesus because he chose us to love us and rescue us from our sinful state.
God’s choice to pour out grace on those he calls shows us the astounding mystery of love, and short-circuits the devil’s scheme to leave us forever working to save ourselves.
Living thankfully because of grace means living to the praise of God’s glory.

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4 Comments

  1. Ruth DeMaat

    Reply

    I thank God for His grace. He provided a way for sinners like me to be saved through the sacrifice of His Son. And it was part of His plan from the beginning of time! Anyone can experience God’s Grace. They only have to believe that Jesus died to pay for their sins with his blood. That takes faith. By God’s grace I have had the opportunity to know Him, grow in my faith and be thankful for it! How appropriate to be reminded of this in this season of Lent!

  3. Jan Verhoeff

    Reply

    When I think of Gratitude and living in Grace, I’m reminded that when we ASK we are promised that we will receive. I know there are many theological concepts within that verse, and theologians are forever battling out the meaning and the relevance to doctrine, but if you think about the promises God’s made to us and the open-ended relevance those have in our lives, you might find as I have that God wants for us what we most desire within his plan.
    OF course, we must be filled with desires that are heaven-sent, not the selfish desires of man. But… What are those desires?
    Does God not want us to prosper so we can help others?
    I’m not part of the name it/claim it social structure, but I’m definitely believing that if I follow God’s word and ASK he will give me what I ask for in Jesus’ name. And I’m grateful every minute for the blessings he pours into my life.
    Gratitude is Grace in Action!

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