November 19, 2007

the free gift: grace.

this past weekend, I read the whole book of Romans at one time. I think doing that is so much more powerful, and makes everything so much easier to undestand in its context if you read a book that way.

one of the things that really stuck out at me was the fact that whether I am a Jew or a Gentile, my faith is not anything to be proud of. the only reason I believe is because of the FREE GIFT that God has given to me, FAITH by GRACE.

and since that is true, and God is not a God of partiality, in anything, we must never look down on others for what they do, or what they believe. we are no better than them. if God is not a God of partiality, there are no "white" sins or "black" sins. it is all the same, all just as horrible and ugly.

we are all sinners. and the only reason for our faith is free grace.

for when we were still without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
for scarcely for a righteous man will one die;
yet perhaps for a good man
someone would even dare to die.
but God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
for if when we were enemies we were reconciled
to God through the death of His Son,
much more,
having been reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life.
and not only that,
but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
~Romans 5:6-11

3 comments:

Jacinda Vandenberg said...

Amen, Carol-lee! funny thing....right now I'm working on a CCEF assignment that's due today and it's all about how I can never gain Gods approval by my own 'goodness,' and how awesome it is that He has provide a way for me to be acceptable in His sight-FREELY! by His grace towards me in the provision of His Son, Jesus Christ!

Hallelujah! what a Saviour!

Thanks for re-enforcing the message for me! :)

Carol-Lee Joy said...

you could use a lot of passages from Romans for your assignment. it's full of good ones.

nadine j. said...

Carol-Lee, I really like reading your blog because you always have something interesting to say. And you always make me think about stuff. And I try to make a comment about it, but half the time I don't think they really make much sense. But, I hope you can understand them a little. In any case, I really like reading what you have to say, and yeah, I think you have really cool thoughts and I hope that you keep writing cause then I can keep reading and being encouraged and being made to think of things in ways I never really thought of thinking before. Yeah. I just wanted you to know that.