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Cheap Grace?
by Dave Campbell Romans 5: 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. It has been said that many treat Jesus' sacrifice with less value than it is worth and do what they want after accepting his forgiveness . I would like to suggest that the value of grace remains at the level set by the giver and is totally independent from the actions of the receiver. That is, the fully paid grace we receive from God is valuable beyond measure and yet is totally "cheap" to us. That is, it is FREE. (Can't get much cheaper than free). God intended it to be free and with no real strings attached. We need to see that God did this for us, outside our own will or desire and that he brought this grace to us, when we did not seek it and that it continues past any action we can do, either positive or negative. Thus the issue, of its value based on my actions or how I accept it is irrelevant. What IS important, as suggested by this passage is that in order to accept God's offer we have to enter his kingly court AND without grace we cannot enter there. God has made a provision through Jesus blood that we CAN enter and then can accept God's gift there in his courts. Our attitude on entering that court is the real issue. So, pay close attention to what I am about the say: If I enter with an arrogant attitude, saying in my heart, "oh, yea, no problem, God will forgive me, I deserve it". Then I am NOT entering his court by GRACE but by my own value. THIS is where people trip up. We can ONLY accept God's salvation and gain eternal life WHEN we come to Him based on HIS grace ONLY. We come, knowing fully in our heart that we could never enter to see God, or get His audience and therefore never even ask for eternal life, if it was not for God having favor toward us that is TOTALLY undeserved. So, there is no cheap or expensive grace. Grace is grace is grace, always. But grace has no power when a person perceives they do not need it, .and I mean ALL of it! Dave Campbell has ministered for 30 years from large platforms to local outreaches. He has counseled hundreds of people with difficult issues. Today he is a professional writer, employed full time, as well as a free-lance writer for Christ. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |