More Grace

What can you tell me about the grace of God?  We all know about His grace...God's unmerited favor.  We can't earn it. God just gives it to us because He loves us.  I was reading in the book of James, Chapter 4.  I have read this before but this week, it was if I was reading it for the first time.  I remember memorizing verse 7 as a child. "Submit yourselves, then, to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  But that is not what caught my attention today.  It was the verse before that which said, 'But he gives us more grace.' (v6a)  I don't think I had ever read that before.  Interestingly enough I had to see what this was talking about.

I went back and read the first five verses.  These verses addressed so many different issues.  Conflict among believers.  Why our prayers go unanswered?  Our love of the world. All of these things that go on after we are saved. Why are there conflicts among believers?  I can't speak for anybody but myself.  Most of my conflicts occur out of my own selfish nature.  One thing that I have learned is that it takes too people to argue and as Christians, one of us needs to be the bigger person and show the love of Christ.  Most arguments are meaningless anyway.  It's because we are more concerned with being right and proving our point.  But are we really showing the love of Christ when we do this.  This doesn't even take into account our desire to be the best no matter who we have to step on to get there.  On top of this, we have the nerve to pray and ask God for something while we are sitting in church cutting our eyes at somebody or talking about the preacher when he says something we don't like.  It's not that God doesn't want the best for us. It's that most of us make our plans to get ahead without consulting Him.  We also start to love those things more than God when we start to neglect our relationship with the Lord because of them.  Have you ever thought about what this type of attitude does to your witness for Christ?  I can't help but think that it damages it.  As Christians we should be  a little bit better.  And we can be with God's help and when we humble ourselves and submit to Him. 

But thanks be to God, who realizes that we are sinners saved by grace.  He realizes that we still have that sinful nature and there are times we pick it back up.  So instead of God doing like some of us would do and writing us off, He gives us more grace.  The grace of God is contrary to the spirit of the world.  It helps us to fight off our old ways.  What we receive from God is stronger than any negative spirit.  Now this does not mean that we keep on sinning that grace may abound.  It means that for some of us who are really trying to live right and do what God requires of us and live how He wants us to live, there are times when that old nature creeps in and it is not always easy to fight off.  Even those of us who act holy all the time have issues that God has to help us with.  So we submit to Him and with His power we are able to resist the devil and draw near to God. 

I read this verse earlier this week and it just kept coming to the front of my mind.  We just don't realize how  much God does for us sometimes.  He knows that we are not perfect.  And in spite of our imperfections, He keeps on being God and providing what we need.  Some people have not gotten to the point that they can shout about grace.  But when you realize the wrong you have done and yet God loves you, forgives you and has given you grace, you have a reason to shout.  He truly doesn't have to give you anything else.  You can't earn it. It's effortless.  That's the best reminder I have had all week.  I have a habit of beating myself up when I do something wrong.  I don't have to do that anymore because God looks at me through grace.  Hallelujah! 

Dear Lord,

Oh great and mighty God, thank you.  As I look at my life and see how many times I have chosen to ignore your spirit that lives in me and respond in my old sinful nature, yet you keep on loving me and forgiving me, I am so grateful.  I thank you for looking beyond my faults to my need and providing for me. I thank you for those times when I went ahead with my selfish desires and did things that I shouldn't have and yet you took those circumstances and worked them out for my good.   I thank you Father for your grace that has brought me thus far and will continue to lead me on.  In Jesus' Wonderful Name Amen.