What is grace anyway?

GRACE......What is "grace" anyway? Well, grace is......grace! Grace that cannot be abused is no grace at all. Grace that is not free is no grace at all. Grace that is not received by simple faith is no grace at all.

I like the way Paul put it in Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." It's either by grace or by works. It can't be by both.

But here's the crazy thing about grace, once you receive it through faith it begins to transform you. Jesus changes your "wanter" (what we want/desire) and you become a new creation. Sure we can abuse it and, if we're honest, often do. But when we let grace do it's work it "teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age" (Titus 2:12.) God's grace is not a license to sin but a reason to serve Jesus with reckless abandon…not because we have to, but because we get to.

If we resist, He persists.

If we fail, He forgives.

If we lose our faith, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

Amen! †

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