Be Strong in the GRACE of GOD

2 Timothy 2:1 - “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

Praise God for His grace. I am saved not because I deserve it. God chose me and placed me in the ministry where he uses me now, not because I was qualified. No one can ever say he deserves everything he has and is fit for his current position. Our extra efforts and acts of righteousness can never make us more deserving and qualified! It is only because of God’s grace! 

We are people saved and chosen only because of God's sovereign grace! Praise God, I was included with others who, because of His amazing grace, now enjoy the privilege of serving the Lord.

David was a murderer, adulterer, and polygamist, and yet He was a friend of God and a person after God’s own heart. The Lord did not disqualify him from his throne. Jesus, in His reign, will sit on the throne of David as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Hosea, the prophet who married a harlot, remained a prophet of God. As a type of Christ, he was forgiving and gracious to accept his wife back. God continues to love and be faithful despite our disobedience. 

Judas Iscariot was already known as the traitor when Jesus called him one of the twelve. However, the Lord did not expose him for who he was until His betrayal. His grace made Him complete the work of redemption the Heavenly Father sent Him to fulfill.

Unlike Judas, who never enjoyed the grace of God, others did. Through the experience, they became stronger and bolder. They have the qualities God wants to win the good fight of faith. Oh yes, they were told to quit by their peers, friends, and some miserable comforters, but God said, stay where you are, for my “grace is sufficient for thee.” 

The thorn in the flesh remained, not to remind Paul and others of their weakness and sins but to show the strength and the power of God’s Grace!

In God’s act of grace, He used Himself as the greatest example when, as the Great I Am, He married Israel, but because of her spiritual adultery, He continued pursuing her to return. But Israel chose to betray God until such time God had to let her go. With His long-suffering, He showed grace and His decision to show His displeasure to sin His justice. All these God because of His amazing grace. 

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Great I AM, is espoused, this time to His other sheep, the Church, to be the Bride of Christ - a mystery that Jesus has revealed because of His grace. Who would have thought that the heathens (Gentiles) would be recipients of God’s saving grace? 

What a loving and symbolic gesture for God to use Himself to show that His grace is abundant and sufficient for anyone who has committed mistakes, sinned, and who went before God, availed of His forgiveness to “go and sin no more.” God’s grace tells us not only to stop committing sins but to continue faithfully doing the works and the greater Works of the Lord! 

Let us stop being the judge and the qualifier of God’s people. Our gracious God and Savior are already occupying that role. No one can ever qualify for the standard of God. But through Jesus' greatest grace on the cross, He made us deserving to receive many more abundant graces from God. 

We should not only abound in grace but also be strong in grace.

As recipients of the grace of God, we can show strength in grace when we learn to forgive. When you see others fall, stop reminding them of their sins. Consider what Apostle Paul says: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 

[2] Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1, 2)

God understands our humanness, but that does not mean He will always allow our indiscretion, pride, and evil desires to continue. He is the ONE that qualifies, and He can and will disqualify at His gracious time. That’s a job that God alone will do! 

Prayer for Today;

Lord, we thank you for your Amazing Grace. Because of your grace, we became deserving of your love and care. Without your grace, we can never enjoy eternal salvation. Our sins cannot be forgiven, and we will never prosper.

How we are so dependent on your grace. Help us, Lord, that we have not been strong of your grace. We are too fast to claim your grace but fail to be gracious to others. We are quick to judge and to condemn. We have difficulty forgiving those who wrong us.

May we always be gracious to others like you are gracious to us. This is our prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen!