GRACE... Now We Can Love Anyone, Starting With Ourselves!
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
Receiving the Grace of God requires us to know "grace" is a gift from God and it is nothing we can ever earn or deserve or capture on our own. We can give Grace once we've received it, and giving grace is a good thing. So, receiving all the grace we can get on a daily basis is one of our highest priorities, or it should be! Can you imagine?
Can you imagine what your life would be like if you loved yourself? Seriously, what would your life be like if you loved yourself as God loves you? How would you feel about yourself, your future, and about others, and their future?
Let's imagine for a minute... what if you loved yourself as God loves you, how would your life be different? How would you act differently?
"This is my command; love each other!" John 15:17
Would you love others, more, and love them with more unconditional love? I think so, I do. Whenever I think of what God has done for me, through Grace, through the blood of Jesus Christ, I certainly want to love Him and love others the same.
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you!" John 15:12
In the love of God I can't help myself, I am compelled to love, and to love through grace.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—" Ephesians 2:8
We can't "get" grace for ourselves, meaning we can't earn it. We can't act perfectly and receive grace because it would no longer be "grace."
"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power." Ephesians 3:7
God gives us grace, it's the only way to receive it. We receive grace so that we can give it away. We can receive unlimited grace, but only because He considers us to be "stewards of His Grace." Meaning, He wants us to be filled with grace.
"With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all" Acts 4:33
God actually wants to lavish His grace upon us so that we will do the same to others. God is calling us to be His vessels of grace.
"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2
We can't take grace, or steal grace, or even connive to get grace, but we can receive it freely. The very second we attempt to "get" grace it's no longer grace and it's gone.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace" Ephesians 1:7
Grace is "of God" and it's His gift to us and for us, and grace is something He intends to lavish upon us, without limits.
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10
We are Holy because He is Holy and in His Grace, we are made Holy. It's in grace God is pleased!
"But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;" 1 Peter 1:15
Grace is a signification of God's unconditional and unmeasurable love for us all. We don't deserve grace, just the opposite. We deserve death, which is separation from God. However, in Love, Jesus, through grace, has overcome the grave, overcome death, and set us free from death. God obviously wants us to enjoy all of His grace.
"The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 1:14
God does not want anything from us, BUT He does want everything for us, starting with His grace. He simply wants us to receive His grace and give it freely as an expression of His love. We are His righteousness through Grace, so be righteous by giving away the grace He has so freely given.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2
Once we have God's grace we have it all. Seriously, in grace we have everything. Grace is a supply, and it is never a demand.
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:5
God does not require or need anything from us, but He certainly has a lot to give us and wants to give it to us without measure.
Once we have God's grace we have more than we could ever want or imagine or need, and there is no limit to the magnificence of God's gift of Grace. If we spent the next one hundred thousand billion years thinking about His grace, we wouldn't even capture a tiny smidgen of God's grace. God, through Jesus, or Grace, Gave Us Everything!
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7
"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
About the Author:
Craig Rogers
Grace Coach
Craig Rogers has been a Christ-centered leader in the...
Craig Rogers has been a Christ-centered leader in the behavioral health industry for the past 25 plus years. Craig Rogers is an...
