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Grace Is Enough
by Jerry Ousley "That's just not good enough!" he yelled. "You're always messin' up and I'm sick and tired of it." "But, I really didn't mean to do it. It just sorta happened, ya know?" came the weak defensive reply. "That may be so, but it is no excuse. You're still wrong and I'm fed up!" This little conversation may or may not sound familiar to many of us. Perhaps we've been on either end of it. There have been times that we've been the "yeller" and times that we were the "yell-ee." There's no defense we can take. We are guilty whether by outright neglect or whether we're a victim of circumstance. It's times like these that we need a thing called "grace." Paul realized this. He wrote about it in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10. He was very successful as a minister of the Gospel but to keep his ego down, God had allowed a messenger from Satan to buffet him. The interesting thing about this word "buffet" is that it means to be beat with another's fist. It's not just an embarrassing moment but a brutal beating. God had denied Paul's request three times when he asked God to take it away. Finally, God answered Paul with these words: "My grace is enough for you" (verse 9). In other words, "the grace (unmerited favor) I gave you is enough for anything. Paul took comfort in that and realized a great truth which was this: When he was being beaten down he had to depend on God. Therefore his weakness and inability caused him to look to God more intently and so God's strength was magnified in him. When he was weak HE became strong (verse 10). This is a simple truth, unfortunately one that the Church in the United States has forgotten or chosen to bypass. Now, before some begin to rip their clothes and cry "blasphemy" I am not against the Church but rather for it. The Church that God has ordained is a very important part of the Kingdom of God. But our organized church-structure, even though on the surface seems to encourage dependence on God, has actually caused us to depend rather on ourselves. We see those who are non-believers saying things like, "I'm not good enough to come to God," or "I've got to take care of something in my life before I can come to God." These are statements that tell me that the Church has reflected a doctrine of being good enough to be a Christian. The truth of the matter is that none of us are good enough to be Christians. Had Jesus not paid the death price of sin for us, none of us would ever be good enough to even think about God. His grace extended to us is the only thing that can ever remove the guilt of sin. It's good to be moral but morals will never win merit with God. I tell you that only God's grace can set us free. To come to God in salvation is not a right but a blood bought privilege. It is time that believers around the world unite to tell those who are lost that Jesus does save us by the grace of His shed blood. There is hope in a hopeless world. There is freedom from the bondage of sin but it only comes through the grace extended us by God through Jesus Christ. God's grace is enough in any circumstance. We as believers must quit judging and begin telling the Good News of Jesus. If you don't know Jesus as Savior, right now confess to Him what all who have believed have confessed. The fact is that we are all in sin and can't ever hope to save ourselves. Tell Him that you are sorry for your sin and ask Him to forgive you by applying the grace only He has the right to extend. If you really believe that the Bible tells us that you will be saved. You won't be perfect in the flesh but you will in the spirit. As you walk day by day with Christ you will begin to grow stronger and learn to depend on God's strength more and more. You will learn, just as Paul did, that God's grace is enough! Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |