December 2005

Grace

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love ... Psalm 103:8

Over the past eleven months, you and I have gone thru so many things in life. But by the grace of God we have come thus far safely to the end of another year. Did we keep the promises which we made to God when we began this year? Have we done things which would have hurt God? Were there times when we had taken Him for granted? If God were to meet with us today and ask us to give an account of how we spent this year, how many positive answers can we give?

The word Grace can be defined as "God giving us what we don't deserve". In spite of our mistakes, He loves us. He accepts us just as we are. When the stench of sin stuck to us, even still He is willing to hold our hands and lead us thru our path of life. I hope you can understand and realize how great His grace is toward us.

All thru the Bible, if there's one quality of God that's spoken of and referred to by many of the saints of God, it is "His abounding Grace" ... Moses, Nehemiah, King David, Joel, Jonah, Luke, John and Paul have extensively spoken about the boundless grace of God. If we read in the bible we see that God's grace is always accompanied by His "Compassion and Favor". There's another quality of God which is always referred to along with His Grace and that is "He is slow to anger". What a God of Love we have?

Why does God love you and me so much that He has so much of compassion on us in spite of our mistakes and sins and showers His boundless grace and favor on us? Why is He slow to anger when we hurt him? The answer is simple but very profound. The ultimate purpose for which God created you and me is to be like Him. The bible says that "He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of the Lord". This is the very reason God is patient with us, till the day when we will all be like Him when we meet Him. To be like Jesus and to reflect Him in our life should be our very purpose in life.

What does "To be like Jesus" have to do with grace? In the gospel according to Luke chapter 2 we read how Jesus grew up. Not much in the bible is said about how He grew up from childhood to adolescence and to adulthood. But there's a small verse in the bible which tells all that we need to know about how Jesus grew up. In Luke chapter 2 verse 40 we read "And the child (Jesus) grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him". In verse 52 of the same chapter we read "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men."

When the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ abounds in our life, we will be filled with Wisdom, we can be strong even when trials come our way in this life and we will find favor with God and Men.

My friend, even while we're at the end of this year, let's look back at our life yet another time and see how God has been gracious to us all thru the past months and thank Him for giving us what we didn't deserve - His Grace. And even while you enter the new year please pray for God's grace to be bestowed on your life in the years to come, so that you can be wise in all that you do and you'd find favor in the eyes of God and man.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and His peace which passes all understanding be with you even in this new month and in the coming new year.

Have a blessed day!!!

Your friend,
Eshcol