Regardless of how you remember grace, the essence the same. God's power at work in our lives was not free, Jesus gave His life, purchased what we desperately need and yet are powerless to attain apart from His sacrifice. In our modern economic world, the concept of free easily slips into a synonymous realm with cheap. However, economics and eternity are vastly different. That which is fully free in the realm of eternity is also the most sacred and the most costly, God's grace.
Which brings me to a verse in today's reading. Luke 20:47 tells us of an account where Jesus is teaching on the Old Testament's teachings about the Messiah (Himself) and that religious leaders who relish more in their own personal glory than championing their sacred trust for the spiritual health and well being of others by pointing them to the Messiah (again, Himself)... in Jesus' own words, "will be severely punished."
How do we reconcile Luke 20:47 with the precious doctrine of grace? Ephesian 2:8-9, "For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift, not from works, so that no one can boast." Every gift culminates in a moment of acceptance. His grace is most certainly a gift, freely offered to us all, purchased by Christ's pure life sacrificed, but a gift that must be accepted.
May we all accept His grace, for our sake. The doctrine of grace lives in among an innumerable body of Christian doctrine, one of which is the doctrine of consequence, which we find again here in Luke 20:47. They do not contradict, they are interwoven together as only could be done at the hands of a Sovereign God.
Grace is not the permission to live as we please. Grace is God's willingness to use His power on our behalf even though we do not deserve it. Embrace grace, His love, His power, His plan, His rule in our lives! May we never know the consequence of rejecting anything that our loving Father gifts to us, His children.
Pastor Fred
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