I have realized recently that I do not fully understand or grasp the full extent of God's love and grace in my life. I rambled at length about what He has been teaching me a post or two ago. I know that I will never be able to fully grasp the enormity of His love and grace, but I feel that I have at last begun to understand it more deeply than I ever have before.
Last Sabbath during the sermon, Ephesians 2:1-9 was read. I have often read this passage myself. It contains one of the most fundamental principles for salvation, that being, "It is by grace you have been saved." I am very familiar with it, but a verse in particular jumped out at me last week and caught my ear and understanding in a new way.
"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
"Why is God so good to me? Why does He continue to bless me beyond what I deserve or even appreciate?" He is showing me the incomparable riches of His grace, through His Kindness. His overwhelming goodness to me is how He is showing me His Grace.
I over think and over-churn my ponderings. It is like that icecream that is "Double Churned" and yet annoyingly has half the fat. Eventually, I come up with a version of understanding something, its like a "put this into your own words assignment" that got a B for accuracy. It sure is amazing when God answers my laborious mental meanderings with a solid BAM "Here is your answer in one well worded sentence."
Through His Kindness, I am learning about His Grace. Guilt over "getting away with too much awesome in my life" or freaking out because "God has not demanded more suffering of me and He must be building up to something massively painful and character building" is not the reaction I should be having. (Duh? Yes. But it happens. Pity me, it is hard having an overactive imagination and a sporadically evoked guilt complex.)
Last Sabbath during the sermon, Ephesians 2:1-9 was read. I have often read this passage myself. It contains one of the most fundamental principles for salvation, that being, "It is by grace you have been saved." I am very familiar with it, but a verse in particular jumped out at me last week and caught my ear and understanding in a new way.
"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
"Why is God so good to me? Why does He continue to bless me beyond what I deserve or even appreciate?" He is showing me the incomparable riches of His grace, through His Kindness. His overwhelming goodness to me is how He is showing me His Grace.
I over think and over-churn my ponderings. It is like that icecream that is "Double Churned" and yet annoyingly has half the fat. Eventually, I come up with a version of understanding something, its like a "put this into your own words assignment" that got a B for accuracy. It sure is amazing when God answers my laborious mental meanderings with a solid BAM "Here is your answer in one well worded sentence."
Through His Kindness, I am learning about His Grace. Guilt over "getting away with too much awesome in my life" or freaking out because "God has not demanded more suffering of me and He must be building up to something massively painful and character building" is not the reaction I should be having. (Duh? Yes. But it happens. Pity me, it is hard having an overactive imagination and a sporadically evoked guilt complex.)
Your love O Lord, reaches to the heavens.
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