BELIEVE AND RECEIVE GOD’S GRACE

18 Feb

“For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17 KJV)

According to our bible text, God has given to us abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. You don’t work for a gift. Whatever you work for is no longer a gift but a reward. What you do with a gift is to receive it. That is why the scriptures say those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. This implies that it is already given. But the question is, have you received it as a gift? It came with your package of salvation. The day you made Jesus the Lord of your life, righteousness was given to you as a gift. It has nothing to do with whether you did good or bad. It is God’s prerogative, his decision and his choice.

Grace does not explain to you why it does what it does. So don’t try to understand grace. All you need do is to receive it. What is grace? Grace is God’s unmerited, undeserved and unearned favour. Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

You are saved by grace. In other words it was God’s decision that Christ should die on your behalf so that you will be adopted into his family as his son. It was his decision and it has nothing to do with you.

But religion will tell you: “Yes Brother Mike, we are saved by grace but sustained by works”. That is a lie, the same grace sustains you. The day you start putting your hands in what God has packaged for you, you enter into the arena of pride because God does not need your help. All he needs from you is to be thankful for the gift he has given and receive it. All you need do is to tell him, Lord, I believe and I receive your grace and your gift of righteousness, which makes me stand with you.

BELIEVE AND RECEIVE GOD’S GRACE