A Familiar Word - Grace Thru Faith- study [13] 

Grace Thru Faith - STUDY

Precious Peace

How wonderful to know that the love of God is towards us, in Christ Jesus. How comforting to know that we are accepted by God because of His Beloved Son. How precious to know that we have peace with God and the peace of God. But it has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with Christ Jesus.

Privileged Position

I sometimes think we’ve missed the enormity and privilege of our saved status. I sometimes think we don’t appreciate the honour our heavenly position grants us, when from eternity past God looked down and saw our foul, fallen state – a God-rejecting, rebellious, sinful race, bedecked with a necklace of pride. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Perfect Plan

And He, in an inconceivable act, chose to give His dearly Beloved Son.. to save us.. before the world was made – in the unimaginable realm of His TriUnity of love.. before the race was created, in the indescribable sphere of His gracious wisdom. God planned to give His perfect Son, so that imperfect man could be eternally saved.

Gracious God

Once He set His heart on redemption, it exploded into myriads of additional graces: Love; Joy; Peace; Long-suffering; Kindness; Goodness; Faithfulness; Gentleness; Self-Control. And He scripted it in advance in His Holy Word for our learning and understanding.. and chose us to sit with Him on His throne and to be garmented with righteousness. But too often the familiar word does not permeate our outer shell of independence – and too frequently the well-rehearsed story becomes routine, religious reading.

Great Price

And inevitably we are dispassionate of the enormity of our saved status. And sadly we become indifferent to our privileged, heavenly position. And like the Israelites, we also start to murmur with dissatisfaction of our lot – almost dismissive of the great price that our Salvation and acceptance cost Him.

 Fluctuating Feelings

Too often we also fluctuate between two extremes – mountain-tops or deep valleys. One day we rejoice in our salvation, but the next we question our acceptance, One night we bathe in His presence, but the next we despair of His love. And day after week after year, we can ping-pong between two opinions. God loves me: God loves me not. God accepts me: God accepts me not.

Religious Routine

In the church age, we have some different 'rules' to live by from other servants. Unlike Israel who require a sign, the Church is to live by faith and not by sight. We do not see a pillar of fire to guide us through the night seasons of our lives. We do not see dry paths made through the troubled waters of our earthly trek. We do not see mountainous walls tumble at the sound of our trumpet blast. But we have the Word of God.. and we have the completed canon of Scripture – and guess what.. God has magnified His Word above His Holy name. But too often the familiar Word does not permeate our outer shell of independence.. and too frequently the well-rehearsed story becomes routine, religious reading.

 Saved Status

And inevitably we are dispassionate of the enormity of our saved status.. and sadly we become indifferent to our privileged, heavenly position – and like the Israelites, we start to murmur with dissatisfaction of our lot. Too often we dismiss that great truth that we are accepted by God in Christ. And the old adage 'familiarity breeds contempt', is proved to be all too true Never let us become so 'familiar' with God’s Word.. that we treat His love and grace and our position in Christ lightly. May He open the eyes of our hearts with a fresh understanding, of what it truly means to be accepted in the Beloved Son of His love.

 Fixed Faith

We are clearly told that without faith it is impossible to please God... and faith is firmly fixed attitude. An attitude that is firmly fixed on trusting His living Word.. a trust that accepts what He writes in His written Word – that by His grace, He made us accepted in the Beloved.

God’s Goodness

That means that despite everything – God accepts me because of Jesus. And if circumstances scream the opposite, God accepts me because of Jesus. And if this is good enough for God, then it's good enough for me, and good enough for you.

 
Bible verses: Romans 5:8
Topics: GraceFaith

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