Grace

EPHESIANS 2:1-10 (NKJV): And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Today’s word is Grace. Strong’s defines Grace as Favor. So, when we look at this text in Ephesians, we see that God has given us favor or another way to say it, forgiveness. His desire for us is to be part of Hid Family again. He desires for us to not be on the outside, but on the inside. Meaning this, because of our sin, we have been separated.

You maybe rolling your eyes saying, “Pastor Mark, you already covered this.” I did, however, let’s think about something here. God has given us Grace. We offended Him the most. If anyone has the right to bring vengeance on us, it is Him. However, He chose to show us favor and allow us a way back to be part of His Family.

Now, here’s a question we need to ask ourselves, “If God, who is perfect in all ways, who has every right to bring judgment on us for what we have done, has shown us Grace, why then can we not show Grace to each other?”

Ponder that question for a minute. If someone offends us, we are quick to bring vengeance or judgment on them. We are quick to dismiss them out of our lives. We go as far as slandering their character at times. Why do we do this?

Matthew 6:14-15 (NKJV): “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

I want to encourage all of us to consider this the next time someone offends us. Maybe they did something unintentional or without meaning any harm. Can you imagine what would happen if we did this for each other?

It starts with Our Relationship with Jesus. If you don’t have a Relationship with Him or you need to rekindle that Relationship, do it now. Call out to Him and seek his Love and Forgiveness. It really is as hard or easy as you make it.

We should look to Him daily to seek a relationship with Him. I want to encourage you to seek Him today, if you haven’t already. If you need help, have questions or need direction in this regard, please, feel free to let me know.

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Any scripture referenced here is taken from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted