Grace Keeps Giving
"But He gives MORE grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6) "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16)
Stop for a moment and think about everything that you possess and have access to and all the spiritual blessings that have become yours in Christ. How blessed are we when we consider that we are the recipients of every good and perfect gift that comes from our Father in heaven! But the amazing thing is that God's grace keeps giving. Jesus taught, "for to him who has, to him MORE will be given" (Mark 4:25). The Lord gives more grace TO us in order to show more grace THROUGH us.
When it comes to the kingdom of God, we know that this is not something that we achieve but something that we receive. With all the things that we have received freely from the Lord, we are called to freely give unto others. This allows God's kingdom to manifest through our lives to this broken world.
Thus, Jesus develops His teaching on kingdom living in the sermon on the mount by moving into the gracious ways that we respond to God's grace to us through our words, our responses, and our love toward others.
Three KEY RESPONSES on how we ought to respond to God’s grace:
1. The words we use to declare our intentions.
2. The way we respond to those who ask of us.
3. The kind of love we show to those not like us.
Our words should be weighty and trustworthy and fall into the category of either YES or NO. Jesus adds "For whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matt 5:37). Satan is a deceiver and he adds confusion and unrest when he gets God's created beings to deviate from what God clearly says to us. Therefore, we must not only be sincere and straightforward when we speak to others but we must speak and live in agreement with what the Lord says "YES" to and what the Lord says "NO" to. Our verbal intentions should be backed up by our faithful actions which should be based on what God has revealed to us in His Word and by His Spirit.
Furthermore, we should be willing to go the extra mile and do MORE than what is asked of us. Since everything we do is an act of worship unto God, we should showcase God's goodness and grace by having the motivation to do more than man's requests to fulfill God's revelation of grace toward us. This results in an overflowing life of blessing where we share with others what God has shared with us - "grace for grace."
When it comes to the way we love people, this is where we need to be the MOST distinct. The people of this world will regularly love people who are just like them but Jesus calls us to not only love those who are different from us but to even love our enemies. This kind of love will surely get the attention of the world to hopefully draw attention to our Lord Jesus. We do not need to muster up this love but to allow His love to flow through us to this world, since "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom. 5:5).
Proverbs 16:7 says, "When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."
HEART WORK
- How do you feel you are doing in your response toward others lately?
- How trustworthy are your words when you interact with others?
- How confident are others of your love toward them?
Pray into this and consider how you are responding to God's grace and ask Him to help you find new ways to meet the needs of others above and beyond your personal preference or convenience.