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That verse gives me comfort this morning. Grace. God is a God of grace. ALLLLL grace given. Undeserved - unmerited favor: that's grace. Our God...our God is a God of grace. Not the Hindu gods. No grace found there. Not the God of Islam. Yeah...no. No grace there. Buddah? How about grace from Buddah? No. Check him out. NO grace found there. Really. Check those gods - any gods for that matter. No god but THE GOD of The Bible offers grace. AND here's the kicker...we did nothing to deserve it. ALL other religions focus on deeds - what we must do to earn favor.
Not THE GOD - the author of grace: "By grace you have been save through faith, and that NOT OF YOURSELVES, it is the gift of GOD." Ephesians 2:8-9. And this grace that comes through Christ (John 1:17) is given to everybody. EVERY single body in the world is being extended this incredible favor from God right now. NO other god is as INCLUSIVE as THE GOD of grace. This God is the God of the Abraham, Isaac, to whom the promise was extended, to Jacob, his 12 sons who became the nation of Israel - through whom came King David, King Solomon, and King Jesus.The Son of God was given so that we might know the grace of God that did not demand we WORK to reach heaven, but that GRACE would come to us - even if we could care less. Through Jesus,- his life, death, and resurrection, we can know that our Creator has always been personally invested in us. He is not distant from us - nor has he ever been. He has always loved us, and will not ever relent in His love. He lets us choose Him, and He lets us reject Him - and in both decisions His love pervades. No other god is like our God.
I am so caught up in grace this morning, caught up with the blazing realization that our God is living and active and that HE ALONE is God. There is none like Him. ALL roads do not lead to Him. Any other road but Jesus - the way, the truth the life" is a dead end. John 14:6-7
And you know what? This truth claim is not exclusive - THIS WAY is for the ENTIRE world. "For God so loved THE WORLD that WHOSOEVER believes in Him - not about Him, cuz He is historical fact - but IN HIM - which means your will and heart believe and live accordingly - SHALL NOT DIE - but have everlasting life. That's not reincarnation. Our everlasting life is not cyclical - but linear...we go on, and on, and on - with our God. Jesus said, "My Father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?" We don't have to be relegated to the body of a bug for bad karma. We won't become apart of some essence of a god. We get to be with Jesus - in a personal, loving, intimate eye to eye relationship with Him and others who love Him - RIGHT where HE IS - with GOD. He is there RIGHT NOW!!!! AND one day...we get to be there too! I know...unbelievable, right? Yeah - but not by faith. It's not unbelievable when you put your faith in Christ and His Spirit comes in and opens your eyes to truth that is indeed BELIEVABLE! I Corinthians 1:27-31
I have never seen anything more exclusive than the religions and ideologies of our world. My eyes have been flooded with tears at the realization of what some believe is truth. How exhausting. Heart wrenching. Dark. Hopeless. Powerless. Impersonal. EMPTY. Just the thought that someone would say "All Roads Lead to One" is heartbreaking. How completely ignorant of who God has shown us that He is through His Word - through Jesus of Nazareth - His only Son. One idea planted by that Ancient Liar long ago keeps growing and spreading like a virus. "Did God really say...?" Genesis 3. All truth is realized in one fact. We can trust our God - THE GOD of grace.
God loves the world. And He has paid for our rejection of Him. We are desperate for Him. We just need to realize who He is.
Confucianism, Shinto, Hindu, Sikhism, Kabbalah, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism...the list goes on and is quite long; all gods but our GOD require deeds to achieve an end result. ONLY the God of The Bible requires nothing of us - but to receive the free gift of Jesus, and HIM ALONE, as payment for our sin debt, and hope for our eternity. ANY OTHER god - offers no assurance of salvation apart from deeds - our gift to them...and! And! AND!!! even those deeds do not assure that could we have done enough...well - unless of course you become a guru - or maybe a suicide bomber.
HOW I ache for the truth of God to pervade this city - and every city. Your city and my city need Jesus. We are not filled with the passion to proclaim him from our own efforts. Remember? We can do nothing apart from Him? John 15. He makes us able, because He knows we can't. No other god makes people able to live for him. THE GOD does. We have the power of God in us to pursue Him, and to be ambassadors for Him. You feel that excitement? That urgency? That is the Spirit of God in you! HUG ME! I love that about you!
So where do we begin? How do we accomplish so GREAT a task? I'm with you! I'm thinkin' it out and praying about it with you. Indeed - how do you? Begin with asking our GOD - THE GOD - who has positioned us here in 2012 to know HIM - and live this life for Him...(and again - that's not a list of to do's...that's the Spirit of God in us that makes us cry out to Him - I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I WANT TO LIVE FOR YOU!!!...you don't get that with other gods...This is a free benefit with THE GOD) Check out ..
Hebrews 10:16 " I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." We don't need a list of laws - a ritual, a mantra, a bracelet, an outfit ...we are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and daily He will teach us what we need for our good that brings Him glory. CRAZY! It's just so good and beautiful - it's crazy! How can people not be drawn to Jesus? Oh...yeah - that's right...other people.
Grace. We must learn grace and what it looks like to extend it as our Father has extended it to us. Grace is not extending a rule book, jamming a cross in someone's face, judging, forcing; it's Jesus. Grace is the undeserved, unmerited favor that is our Savior and King. What can you do to extend THAT? Ask God. He's good at it. He didn't shove Himself down your throat, boldly proclaim your sins to the world, shun you, shame you, reject you... He loved you and waited for you to realize just how very much He does...allllll the while extending to you - GRACE.
Wow. Enjoy that thought today as you look back at your life and where God has brought you - apart from Him - or with Him. He has been loving you. Waiting for you. And hoping for your very best...which will always be His Son, Jesus.
I'm so thankful for grace. Thanks for grace through you, my friend! Thank you for being the touch of God in my life as He THRIVES in you!!! GRATEFUL!!! Spread that goodness to everyone!!! It's so INCDREDIBLE! And we aLLLLL need grace. Don't we? Yeah. We surely do. We surely, surely do.
"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:18
What a GOD!
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