We are, too often, just taking the grace of God for granted. I like what the Message Bible says about grace upon grace, in John 1:16, it is translated as gift upon gift. And the verse I have so come to love and depend on is John 14:27, about His peace, and that too is a gift.
So many verses will tell you about grace but do we really see them and embrace them as gifts. There are fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22,23 and they are gifts, the gifts of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12, and so many more. Are gifts and grace one in the same or two separate, I can see both points.
Salvation is a gift from God, Ephesians 2:8, and it is by grace. It’s nothing that we deserve or earn only that we repent and ask for His forgiveness, believing in His love by sending and sacrificing His beloved Son. If it wasn’t for grace, we would not be saved at all, and if it were not that He sends sufficient grace to endue as He told Paul, we wouldn’t make it either.
I read a commentary suggesting that graces are for everyone while gifts are apparently for a few. Many signs and wonders were necessary to draw believers to God but they are still around. True, we are all under grace as believers, but I can see how they are both gifts and graces. However, I did agree that both are divine and from God, but I realize that they are according to a person’s will, and that the Spirit also gives as He sees fit as we grow in grace. Many people never mature or bear fruit.
Not everyone will get this concept but that’s alright, The main idea is not to cheapen or disrespect the grace of God. Not everyone is willing to love like Jesus, even as a believer. Not all believe in spiritual gifts or miracles, healing or tongues, but they do exist. I see way too much in the way of tempers flaring even in the body of Christ, let’s not forget that we are expected not only to embrace His grace but respect it, cherish it.
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:7 English Standard
But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 New Living
It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. Romans 11:5,6
In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. Romans 12:6 New Living
But He gives more grace. Why he said, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James 4:6
A lot of people, like myself, find themselves being more of a giver, than receiver. But we are to freely receive His grace and have great admiration and respect for this gift. Have you ever had someone offer to pay for lunch and refuse, or say that gift is ” too much “, or ” You shouldn’t have! ”
Well, God shouldn’t have, didn’t have to but He loved us enough to send Jesus. And what if He had not? Where would we be? We had to receive and love Him and allow Him to love us and teach us wisdom and grace. We did cost Him too much but He thought we were worth it. Let’s look at a couple of examples of how Jesus exemplified humility and grace, and how different the responses were from a man, religious, and a woman, once a sinner.
In John 13, Jesus washes the feet of His disciples. He humbles Himself before them. Washing feet was a servant’s task. Peter refused, but Jesus called Him out on it and He changed His mind. Perhaps, He thought it was too lowly a thing for Jesus to being doing or just that he wasn’t accepting such a token as a gift of love and grace. Like Peter, a lot of us speak before thinking it through.
And in one of my favorite stories, just two chapters before, Mary of Bethany came to anoint Jesus with and expensive perfume from her broken alabaster box. While Jesus was brought low before the disciples, Mary was humble before Him, she even wiped His feet with her hair as opposed to Jesus and His towel.
Both were submissive, Jesus to the Father, and Mary to Him. Jesus was cleansing them in a ritual sense but they were already clean from the spoken words He had said. He was girded with a towel, as an apparent covenant, a sort of covering.
Mary used her hair, which is also a covenant or covering in it made her a glorified woman in church history. Jesus said she anointed Him for death but He has anointed us for life. And it is time to embrace His gift of it, and to embrace His grace.
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