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My thoughts on..... God's GraceI heard a great sermon tonight. It was part of a series about God's Grace, or even grace in general. He took part of his text from Romans 14, where it says that (in verse 5, talking about what day we "should" worship God) to one man, one day is higher than any other (such as Sunday, or for the Seventh Day Adventists, Saturday), while to another man, all days are alike. I think that the high road, to put it that way, is the latter. I feel that a person should have the attitude of worship everyday. An attitude that wants to please Him, and to do what He wants. If you think that you should only worship on such and such a day, how do you feel about living from day to day the way that He wants you to. You should show Him worship by the very way that you live, not just what and where you go to church. Sometimes "going to church" is actuallly something that brings the downfall to some. They think, "well, I go to church on________, therefore I am doing okay." As the pastor said, there are three words that pastors and others use about salvation: Justification, Sactification, and Glorification Now, Justification is when we are basically released from all charges against us. As a judge does when aquiting someone of breaking the law, Jesus does in regard to us breaking God's moral law. That would be that we are sinful, so we are not able to be in His Presence. Now, this sin that keeps us from God is not the wrong things that we do, but it is our nature which is something that we cannot change. I want to point out that we are not sinful because we sin, but we sin because we are sinful. There is a difference. Anyway, so Jesus, in grace, says, "Accept my payment for your sins, my death on the cross, my perfect life, and my ascension into heaven, as well as my promise to come back for you, then you are aquitted, then you can come into My presence." Now, santification is actually a process. It is not a *presto, chango* happening. It means that we are BECOMING like Him, by trying to live as He did. You may see some christians with a bracelet or necklace or some item that has W.W.J.D. on it: What Would Jesus Do, is what it means. It is a way for us to stop and think about what He would do in any situation, something that we christians do not do as often as we should. This is to show that it is continual process. Anyway, it is obviously not something that happens right away, for we do not become like Him, until we get to heaven. Whether by death or when He comes back the second time, we will not be totally sanctified until then. At that point, we are then Glorified. This means that we are then immortal, and have our new bodies, something that my mom is really looking forward to!! *S*. So all through these three is an act of God on those who believe. It is called GRACE, and means that we are changed by God's effort, and not by anything that we can do. We do not deserve to be justified, or sanctified, or glorified. Now, so often, we say that you are saved by grace, and glorified by grace, but we become sanctified by not doing this, or by doing that. Do you know what I mean? Like, "I don't smoke,don't drink, don't have sex unless I am married, and then only with that person, I don't dance, I don't go to movies, I don't, I don't, I don't I don't......" or "I do go to church, I do give to charity, I do give unselfishly of my time and money(as Mother Teresa did), I do, I do....". Neither one will save us from our sin, nor will either one make us more like Him, for that is something that WE do. NOTHING we do is GOOD ENOUGH. As good as the things that Princess Diana or Mother Teresa did, those things will not get them into heaven. They will not count, as to whether God gives them passage to His Holy City, or whether they end up in Hell. It is one or the other. But the only thing that will give us the right to enter Heaven is this: Have you trusted the One and Only Son Of God, to take away your sins, to make you pure in His sight? Do you try to learn more, and become more like Him? We cannot just "say the prayer", and then go on our merry way. God's Word says in several places that our place in Him is not as secure as we would like to think. He will not give us up- there is no disputing that. Nor will He hold us where we do not really try to live. He says that "if you remain in me, I will remain in you". We have to continue to live and learn, or we do not have a garantee. We cannot profess faith, and then live it up, expecting to say "I am sorry" to God when we go before Him at the end of our lives, and rightfully expect Him to say, "OH! You are sorry, well, that makes it all better". He WILL do that, if we are sincere. God, however, knows everything - including our motives. He is the Judge, He knows our hearts. One thing on the things that we do- our "works". We do need to do things for Him, it is just not by those things that we are saved. In James 2:26 it says that faith without works is dead. So we do need to do things for Him. This verse also shows me that our faith in Him can die, if it was at one time alive. Therefore, it is possible to "lose" one's salvation, but only by OUR course of action. If we strive to stay in Him, then we shall not lose it. This is shown II Timothy 2 11-13. "This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." Do you see how those verses say what I was saying, or, actually how I am saying what the Bible says? Let me know if there is ANYTHING you "don't get". You may very well ask a question that I should ask, or one that I have not thought of myself! Anyway, I hope you are not too overwhelmed by this, I would like you to think about it, though. Again, I hope it is not too much. kedward@gte.netIf the "mailto:"feature does not work, write it down and email me! I would love to hear from you! Thanks! Dating STEADY vs. NOT dating STEADY
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