Grace For The Journey

People often ask, “What do I need to do to experience more of God’s love in my life?”  To which I respond, “Nothing! It’s not what you must do; it’s a matter of what you must accept and believe.”  What you believe in your heart about God’s love for you and the unchanging status He has granted you as a member of His royal family will determine, to an altogether unimaginable extent, the amount of love and grace you experience in your daily life!

Bryan Chapell puts it this way: “Many people feel that the means of grace (prayer, Bible study, church attendance, etc.) are the instruments by which we secure God’s love on a daily basis.  In our humanity it is natural to think in terms of such a barter system of love, but such thinking creates the impression that these Christian disciplines are not means of grace but means to grace.  We reason, as a consequence, that practicing more of the means of grace will cause God to love us more and, thus, the more we do them the more of His love we will get.  Conversely, we reason that we will have less love by not adequately pursuing these practices.  We damage ourselves and our spiritual walk with God by reasoning that practices even as noble as the means of grace will gain us more of God’s affection and approval.”

We are inevitably forced to ask,

“How much more must I do to earn His love?”

And of course, the answer will not be pleasant.

You and I must constantly remind ourselves that God has given us His means of grace, not as a way of gaining His love and approval, but simply as a way of experiencing the love and approval we already have in Christ.  There is no need to strive for God’s affection because we already have all of God’s affection, thanks to our relationship with Jesus Christ – a relationship that is established wholly by God’s grace and apprehended solely through faith.

The way we experience more of God’s love is by keeping in view the love we have already received, which was purchased for us on the cross . . . paid for in full by the blood of the Lamb of God.  From the moment we put our trust in Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf, God loved us completely.  To be completely accurate, God bestowed His love on us before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

He cannot love us any more

Than He has from all eternity,

And

He will not love us any less.

We are completely and unconditionally loved.

The more we learn about this truth . . . The more we live by this truth . . .

The more we will enjoy experience and expressing the love of God

That is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).

God’s love for you is as unconditional as it is undeserved.

• In your disobedience you are loved.
• In your weakness you are loved.
• In your self-centeredness you are loved.
• In your doubt or unbelief you are loved.
• In every moment that you are unlovable you are still unconditionally loved.

Wow!  What a great and motivating truth!

God’s love for us is not based on our performance,

But rather on our position in His beloved Son.

And that position, dear reader, never changes, for the Bible declares in 1 Samuel 15:29,  “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent.  For He is not a man, that AHe should relent.”  Let that truth increase your experience and enjoyment of God’s love today and every day … until that day when you are received into your eternal glory.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”