Grace Life Church
Proclaiming Jesus Christ and the Gospel of God's Grace
LIVING BY GRACE
Grace sets us free from the bondage and frustration of trying to live the Christian life based on our performance. Unfortunately, many Christians today fall into this trap and fail to experience the abundant life that God has already provided for them in Christ.
Even though we were once enemies of God, He provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. By His grace, through faith in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, all of our sins have been forgiven, we are new creations, and we possess eternal life!
As wonderful and amazing as that is, God's grace doesn't stop there -- it provides even more! Not only are we saved by grace (Eph. 2:8-9), we also grow in holiness by grace (sanctification)! Many Christians don't know that!
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope -- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (Titus 2:11-14)
Read the above verses carefully. Grace does NOT give us license to sin and do as we want as some think it will do. Not at all! That's an very erroneous understanding of God's grace and how it works based on human viewpoint, not based on what God's word says. Rather, God's love and grace motivates and teaches us to live godly lives (2 Cor. 5:14)! The Bible makes it clear that God's grace, shown so wonderfully and perfectly through the substitutionary death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, sets us free to live life at its fullest!
Christ gave His life for us at the cross, in order to give His life to us when we believed, so that He could live His life through us. We need to embrace this amazing gift of grace to us! Jesus Christ lives in all believers (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27)! We can now experience and enjoy a wonderful personal and growing relationship with Christ!
This is what God desires most for us -- to know Him and enjoy Him more and more! As we trust in Christ to direct our thoughts and actions through the word of God, we can be confident that He will lead us to make wise and godly decisions in all that we do. This is grace living!
Let's live how God wants us to live!
Stephen J. Moll
"Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation."
Gal. 6:15