to the praise of the
glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesian 1:6 NKJV).
There is an extremely important principle packed into this
profound and powerful verse that deals with the attribute of grace. It is further highlighted by Paul in the next
chapter of this book to the Ephesians and says:
For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not
of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV).
Many Christians believe that they have been saved by their
faith in Jesus Christ, yet this is not the doctrine that Paul espouses. It may seem like a matter of semantics, but
it truly is not and to confuse the two will result in a less than gracious walk
with Jesus.
The saving power of God is grace, not faith. Yet grace is accessed through faith. Faith is when we decide to accept as true
what the Bible says about Jesus – that He is the Messiah, the Redeemer and Savior
of the world. In that act of faith, we
are actually laying hold of the truth that the world needed redemption. It is the point in time when we realize that
we cannot save ourselves and we need what Jesus is offering that the doorway
opens into the grace that saves.
The reason it is important to separate these two truths is
because most believers stop at the doorway.
They walk through the understanding that Jesus died for their sins and
they stop. That’s not salvation; it is
just a mental assent to the facts. Salvation involves stepping out of death into
life, and more specifically into the life of Christ. And that forward movement is done through
grace. Grace is not just the “getting
what we don’t deserve,” definition we hear touted all the time. The Scriptural definition of grace is far
more powerful:
For the grace of God
that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching
us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for
the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem
us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14
NKJV).
Far beyond getting what we don’t deserve, grace is the
schoolmaster on denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, on living soberly and
righteously, and it is what keeps us on fire for the return of Christ, all the
while zealously pursuing the good works He created for us to do before the
foundation of the earth (Ephesians 2:10).
So, while we need faith to enter the gate, we need grace to triumphantly
walk the path of an abundant life.
Considering this glorious grace with which I’ve been brought
into the Beloved, I will make a conscious effort to allow that same grace to
help me say no to anything that comes into my life today that would not be in
God’s perfect will or purpose for me.
