God gives His grace to us as a gift through faith
in Jesus Christ. We cannot earn it. Our employer pays us
for our work; therefore, we have earned our pay. The grace of
God is different from this. Anytime we do something considered
work, and our employer compensates us for our services, we call this
money paid for services rendered. Should we make enough of these
funds the IRS becomes interested in us, and should we fail to pay taxes
on these funds the IRS will come calling. Many years ago I heard
about a pastor in another state who was being paid in cash by his congregation
and he was not reporting his income on the grounds it was a gift from
the church each week. The IRS disagreed. They ruled those
were funds paid for services rendered. The IRS ordered the pastor
to pay back taxes with penalties assessed and it was a substantial amount.
Grace is God’s gift to us. We do not earn
a gift and neither do we pay it back. A gift is given and received.
The Bible says we were dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2:5).
Because of sin we were spiritually dead. However, Christ has spiritually
quickened us. Quickened means dead, but made alive. We hear
sometimes of someone losing consciousness because of an accident or
some other reason, and after a few minutes of not breathing or no heartbeat,
the person is revived. I was wondering who holds the record for
being dead the longest and then coming back to life. I believe
Jesus’ friend Lazarus holds the record at four days. Now, there
have been other documented cases of people dying for a time, and then
coming back to life, although I was unable to determine what the record
is apart from Lazarus. One report said a man was once pronounced
dead and woke up at the morgue 14 hours later (What a disagreeable surprise!).
All of us were dead in our trespasses and transgressions.
Nevertheless, Christ quickened us – He made us alive. It all comes back to
the grace of God in Christ. Since God has given us grace through
Christ, He then calls us to live for Him and give to Him our all.
John Wesley said, “I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole
Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole
world for my mission field.”
Let us not squander the grace of God we have been
so freely given. Serve the Lord with gladness, rise up in faith,
and walk forward in spiritual victory. Claim the victory that
is ours in Jesus Christ.
God bless you today.
