Tuesday May 10, 2011

Read 2 Peter 1:1-2. Ephesians 2:1-10

Like the word ‘peace’ the words ‘grace ‘and ‘mercy’ have become so common that we rarely remember how awesome and inspiring they really are.  Grace and mercy are the opposite sides of a coin. When we talk about mercy it means I don’t get what I deserve from God. Grace is when I do get what I don’t deserve. Let me unpack that.

In my natural state I deserve the wrath and punishment of God. Mercy is where God withholds the punishment I do really deserve. He can withhold it because Jesus has suffered in my place.  By God’s grace I don’t get what I deserve - punishment. Grace means I get what I don’t deserve - namely, God’s love and forgiveness. I haven’t earned or merited it. It’s freely and lovingly given to me. I get what I don’t deserve.

Grace, like faith, is a gift. It’s a gift given to me by my loving heavenly Father because He has chosen to love me.

To accept the truth about grace and peace and to see the sin in my life as it really is, is  not to wallow and grovel in sinfulness or self abasement.  It’s not an excuse to sink into deep depression or self hatred. In reality, it’s the exact opposite. I am filled with joy. I am filled with gratitude. I am overwhelmed by God’s love and grace and mercy. I respond and react and live, truly live, because God has been gracious to me. Grace takes the self hate, the self deflation, the self denial and deals with it once for all time. Grace allows me to accept myself, to be happy with myself, even to love myself. How can I possibly hate that which God has chosen to love.  Grace opens my heart and clears away the cobwebs of bitterness and unforgiveness. Grace heals the hurt and anguish of brokenness. It allows me to reach out in love and forgiveness, even to those who have deeply hurt me in the past. When the seed of grace is planted in my heart by God, a beautiful lovely flower begins immediately to grow upwards.

Grace changes me from the inside out through the process of renewal and sanctification.

As we saw yesterday with the peace of God, every choice we make to indulge in sinfulness is spitting into the face of our loving Father who saved us by His unlimited grace.  This grace, as 2 Peter 1:1-2 says, is yours in abundance. I know deep inside that neither you nor I want to spit in God’s face.

Prayer:-

V Ask God to increase your understanding of what it means to be lavished with God’s grace and to live by His grace daily. Pray that God will do this too for everyone in your congregation.

V Pray that God’s grace will flow out from the Student Life representatives throughout Australia. Pray that many students will be brought to the Lord in repentance and faith through grace.

V Pray that all primary and high school students throughout Toowoomba and surrounding regions will have opportunity to hear of the grace of God. Pray that God would raise up RI teachers so that all positions in all schools are filled.