The Magnificent Grace of God DevotionalSample

The Magnificent Grace of God Engages Us (Part 2)

Yesterday, we looked at the first rule of engagement that helps us to stand firm in the freedom given to us by Christ – that is, renewing our mind towards gratitude to God. Today, I want us to dive right into three more:

Rule #2: Be ready to work.

Fact: Part of the work involved in us growing up in Christ, we will not like. It will stretch us, challenge us, and make us do things we’ve never done before. It will even ask us to participate in the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3:10). But as we choose to fully engage with the work of our salvation, it will change the way we interact with the gift of God’s grace. We become mature, ready to work. We even learn to run with the thorns in our flesh because we have experienced the all-sufficiency of His grace. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Rule #3: Respond in love.

The third rule of engagement that we must use to stand firm in freedom is to choose to respond in love, not in fear. 1 John 4:18 tells us that “fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” In other words, we cannot stand firm in His love and experience His freedom if we are still yoked to the spirit of fear. It just will not work. Rather, we must operate from a place of confidence knowing that the God who gave us His best in Jesus is the same God who is always going to have our best in mind. And because He always has our best in mind, we can choose to respond as He did - in love (1 John 4:7-8).

Rule #4: Release others.

The final rule of engagement we must employ to stand firm in freedom is that of releasing others. Paul charges us in Colossians 3:13 to “bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” It’s worth repeating, “as the Lord forgave you”. That is, with the same undeserving grace that He forgives you and me with. See, by releasing others of their offenses towards you, you not only free yourself from bitterness and resentment, but your offering of grace also has the propensity to demolish the strongholds of generational sin.

May we, then, choose to engage in God’s grace and renew our minds towards gratitude, ready ourselves to work, respond to others in love, and release others by forgiving them, just as the Lord has forgiven us.