GRACE or WORKS?

Man has a tendency to look at external characteristics whenever he is looking for some cooperation or some kind of companionship. Unlike the grace of God, which does not look at color, origin, gender or age. God has made everything in such a way that everything is a result of His grace!

In more detail, the Word of God in 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟗:𝟏-𝟔, states: “[…] 𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, ‘𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨?’ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, ‘𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨.’” Apostle Paul, while he was not one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, and in fact was a fanatical persecutor of His church, Saul became the Apostle Paul, a useful vessel in the hands of God! Undoubtedly, then, Jesus Christ did not come for the righteous, but for sinners!

If one deserved God’s grace, then it would not be called grace, it would be called wages! God therefore chooses grace over works! If the weak come to Him, He is ready to help their weakness, as He would help the strong. He knows our limitations, so He chooses grace! This, then, is the mystery of God’s grace, because no one deserves it, but God gives it to everyone! Almighty God takes unworthy, sinful, unusual people, clothes them with His glory and puts them in His Kingdom for eternity!

Jesus Christ did not consider Paul’s past and He will not consider your past either. Jesus knows how undeserving of His grace we are, that is why He has decided to brush aside our past in order to determine our future. So what counts more? God’s grace or human works? Get ready to receive His grace, in Jesus’ name!

🙏𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫: “Lord, from today I will learn to lean on Your strength, and not on my knowledge, my degrees, and my experience, and I know that as I lean on Your strength, You will guide and protect my paths – in the name of Jesus Christ I pray -amen!”

#𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 #𝐇𝐞𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞

LOOK DEEP ENOUGH!

Faith is not a feeling. Feelings are influenced by what we see, hear, read and by what our circumstances look like. Thomas would not believe unless he could see; he would not believe unless he could touch where Jesus was nailed and cut by His side (John 20:25). He relied on what he could see and touch, not on what God had to say.

We have many Thomas-Christians today, that is, those who believe in only what they can feel, see, hear or touch. If we base our judgment on what we see only, it means we have not looked deep enough. If we base our judgment on what is seen only, we are bound to give wrong judgment. In the same way, when we are looking for a man of faith, or a genuine believer, we are tempted to look only at those outward qualities, such as:
➡️Speaking skills – ability to inspire people, ability to carry people along, ability to motivate an audience.
➡️Friendliness – the power to win people’s hearts.

No mention would be made of character or inner being because man’s judgment is limited. Such was the case of Thomas and those Christians in his camp today. But Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). This statement was made not to Christians by faith but to Christians by feelings.

We cannot understand God by feelings. We can only understand Him by what the Word says about Him. Thomas was so much overwhelmed by his feelings that he neglected what the Scripture had said about Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. God is everything the Word says He is so we need to get familiar with Him through the Word. Too many people try to get acquainted with God through their feelings. When they feel good, they think God has heard their prayers. When they don’t feel particularly good – I mean, when they feel God is unkind or unfair to them, they begin to rebel or murmur against God. They feel that God no longer answers their prayer; their faith is thus based on feelings.