"Grace is not a commodity... it is a free gift."
These words were given to me as I started to wake up one morning. I was on my way to a men's breakfast that morning and all I could think about were these words. When we had our devotional time I shared these words and asked if anyone knew what they meant. No one spoke up...
It was some years later that I learned the truth about these words and why no one at that men's group spoke up. These words were given to help me get free from a life time of legalism that defined not only my religious endeavours but my personal life philosophy.
I learned that grace was given to me not as a response to my behaviour but as a gift. It wasn`t dependant on anything I did or didn`t do...it was unconditional.
Grace was for the lost and for the found alike and because of it you could rest from your efforts. Efforts to try to please God and efforts to please men.
As it can`t be earned just experienced it qualifies solely as a gift. It comes from God and was paid for by Jesus and can never be returned.
It seems to good to be true and for a long time legalist like me it was hard to realize that it didn`t demand anything in return. All I had to do is receive it.
Once I started to understand grace better and the legalistic shackles started falling off I started to begin to love God in a more intimate grateful way.
Now that I wasn`t under a compulsion to perform in any certain way I found myself wanting to read my bible and study more about grace. Reading my bible wasn`t a chore anymore or just a religious habit like it used to be.
The more I studied the more the old ways of thinking were exposed and that was the start of an internal battle that has taken a number of years.
Am I completly free or reached some lofty spiritual level? No I just know that because of Jesus I`m free to be whatever He wants me to be and that is because of God`s grace.
It was some years later that I learned the truth about these words and why no one at that men's group spoke up. These words were given to help me get free from a life time of legalism that defined not only my religious endeavours but my personal life philosophy.
I learned that grace was given to me not as a response to my behaviour but as a gift. It wasn`t dependant on anything I did or didn`t do...it was unconditional.
Grace was for the lost and for the found alike and because of it you could rest from your efforts. Efforts to try to please God and efforts to please men.
As it can`t be earned just experienced it qualifies solely as a gift. It comes from God and was paid for by Jesus and can never be returned.
It seems to good to be true and for a long time legalist like me it was hard to realize that it didn`t demand anything in return. All I had to do is receive it.
Once I started to understand grace better and the legalistic shackles started falling off I started to begin to love God in a more intimate grateful way.
Now that I wasn`t under a compulsion to perform in any certain way I found myself wanting to read my bible and study more about grace. Reading my bible wasn`t a chore anymore or just a religious habit like it used to be.
The more I studied the more the old ways of thinking were exposed and that was the start of an internal battle that has taken a number of years.
Am I completly free or reached some lofty spiritual level? No I just know that because of Jesus I`m free to be whatever He wants me to be and that is because of God`s grace.
Ephesians 2:8-10New International Version (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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