There has been some great conversations and thoughts shared with me on GRACE from those in our church. It's exciting to see the revelation and thoughts from other people! I was encouraged from their thoughts and decided it would be cool to share these 2 thoughts will all of you... WE'RE ALL ON THE ROAD GROWING IN GRACE! Thanks guys for your thoughts.
*I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS AS WELL*
Guest on Grace: Tim Lunde
“But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness (grace) became more abundant”, Romans 5:20b
Since Adam’s first act of disobedience to God, man has been born into sin. This means that we are born with the “me first” attitude that that Adam and Eve displayed in the garden and that we are born facing the wrong direction: away from God. As our focus on ourselves, which is the basis of all sin, grows, our distance from God increases and sin is a simple by-product of this distance from our Father. If we try to live a sinless life—try to live the Law—we are taking it upon ourselves to treat the symptoms but leave the fatal disease—our distance from God—unchecked. It is only through grace that we have a mechanism to grow closer to God.
Since Adam’s first act of disobedience to God, man has been born into sin. This means that we are born with the “me first” attitude that that Adam and Eve displayed in the garden and that we are born facing the wrong direction: away from God. As our focus on ourselves, which is the basis of all sin, grows, our distance from God increases and sin is a simple by-product of this distance from our Father. If we try to live a sinless life—try to live the Law—we are taking it upon ourselves to treat the symptoms but leave the fatal disease—our distance from God—unchecked. It is only through grace that we have a mechanism to grow closer to God.
As Bishop [that's what he calls Pastor Greg] said, Grace is Jesus Christ. When we accept Christ we open the door to a new and closer relationship with the heavenly Father. As we apply grace, this relationship can grow closer and richer and the selfishness into which we are born comes to be replaced with His love and mercy and forgiveness as we see His grace at work in us. Grace allows not only the treatment of our symptoms by the forgiving our sins, but a means for the treatment of the “disease of man”: our distance from our Lord.
Guest on Grace: Bob Scott
I participate in the men’s group that meets ...on Monday nights. We are currently reading a book entitled “He Loves Me!” by Wayne Jacobsen. In Chapter 18, page 147, the author writes these words which go so well with your series on GRACE. The subsection is entitled, Grace With a Purpose. It reads as follows:
Those who distort grace do so because they see it only as a ticket to heaven. If the reason Jesus died on the cross was to save us from hell, then how do we get people to live the Christian life?
Such thinking misses the greater point. God did not extend his grace to us merely to forgive our sins and let us into heaven. Those are secondary benefits, not the primary objective. The purpose of grace is to grant us access into his presence every day. Grace qualifies us for the relationship we could never earn on our merits.
This grace doesn’t let us get away with sin, but in fact “it teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:12).
God knows that as we grow in friendship with him and discover how to trust the fact that he loves us completely, the root of sin will be destroyed. Grace doesn’t diminish God’s desire for our holiness but clarifies the process. Righteousness doesn’t produce relationship. Relationship produces righteousness.
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