Friday 5 December 2008

Grace has appeared

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, - Titus 2v11

Ah Christmas, I do love it. I don’t like the traffic, the shopping, and the hassle. I do like the family, the fun, the sentiment, and the buzz. I like the focus that it should give us.

At the core of it all is the truth in this passage – ‘the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.’ God chose to send grace through the gift of His some. The grace is there, God provided it for all. Because of Christ all may receive His grace.

But it doesn’t stop there. God’s grace doesn’t stop at salvation. After salvation that grace teaches us how to live. Some may think that grace means we can live any way we want. Paul responded to that in Romans 6 – ‘God forbid – may it never be!’ Grace appeared to save us, but it also appeared to teach us to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly lives in this present world.

The gift of grace saved us, but let us not forget that it also teaches us how to live today.

The question for each of us is, are we willing to listen to the teaching?

1 comment:

Candi said...

I'm with you - hate the brouhaha, but love the season (especially those extra days off work)! The more I learn about God's grace, the more "amazing" it is, and the more I see how only His Grace orchestrated my ability to understand my need for Him; only His Grace provides redemption for my sins; only His Grace enables me to see my need for change; and only His Grace helps me change and sanctifies me. It is so NOT me and so TOTALLY Him. And I'm thankful that His Grace appears to ALL MEN, even those who don't want to see. He still loves enough to show them and show them and show them (and when it comes to sanctification to show me and show me and show me).