Christian Perspectives

September 23, 2013 · 0 Comments

Have you ever received a gift you didn’t deserve for instance a free trip or an anonymous bank deposit? How did you react, did you enjoy it, were you grateful, did you share it or did you refuse it? It is safe to say that we would all be pleased by such gifts. What about God’s saving grace, what is your response to that unmerited favour? Whether we are believers or not, none of us deserved His grace but He gives it equally to all of us. There is nothing we can do to earn it and nothing we can give to repay it. Surely you have heard sayings like, God helps those who help themselves, or no gain no pain with God these statements are not true, God bestows His love and grace even before we even acknowledge Him or our need for Him. God gives us what we need at the right time. He even looked at our failures and focused on how much He loves us so He did something about it even if we didn’t even ask Him to; He gave us His perfect Son as a sacrifice to erase our past failures and be forgiven so we could have a relationship with Him that we would have eternal life with Him. However our minds have been programmed to think that we need to earn this wonderful gift much like a corporation rewards us for jobs well done; we have the attitude that the harder we work the more favors we get. We often adapt that mindset to our Faith, we think the more we do, do, do, that we will deserve God’s grace.

Here is what the Bible says, “The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.” Psalm 145:8. And “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Ephesians 2:8. God says that His grace His mercy is a gift, that is a true Gift, it is something we could never repay. God doesn’t punish us as we deserved for our wrong doings He gives us grace and mercy. So what should we do with such a gift? The Bible has insights, “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece; He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:9, 10. This means we will live for Him, we let Him live through us and we will do things that will honor His gift. He reveals His salvation to those who ask, for those who believe, (Galatians 2:20, Titus 2:11). This gift can sometimes be hard to grasp, because no one needs to tell us better than ourselves that we fall short, we know our wrongs better than anyone else, so sometimes guilt prevents us from receiving this gift, rest assured God wants us to receive His salvation and out of our gratitude we will seek to love others as He has loved us, we will naturally want to share it. If someone gives you a candle, you will want fire to light it, to enjoy its warmth and benefit from its light, grace is that fire which God gives us so our faith shines bright to bless others with God’s grace and Love. God’s Gift brings Him glory, Grace is the gift that brings salvation but we need to receive it and we receive it by faith, we are confident that God will do what He says He will do, (Ecclesiastes 5:19).

We find many examples of God’s unmerited favor, the “prodigal Son”, Rahab, King David, the Adulteress, and the apostle Peter, they all deserved to be punished instead God forgave them and made a way for them to be saved. God doesn’t play favorites, He saves anyone who calls out to Him, anyone who believes Jesus died to save them from the punishment they deserved, (Acts 2:21, John 1:17, John 3:16). Why believe in Jesus? Romans 3:22-24 has the answer, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.” For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”

God doesn’t ignore our sins but His grace provides a way to make it right, to be forgiven and He makes retribution in our place. We are all being offered eternal life and He prepares a place for those who choose to receive this indescribable gift. His gift is the gift that keeps on giving at the expense of His beloved Son; Jesus took what was unforgiveable and made it forgivable, it’s all about what Jesus did for us, we just need to receive His gift in our hearts and share it…So what will you do with this priceless gift?