SIN MAKES WORKERS; GRACE MAKES TRUST(ERS)


“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”—Ephesians 2:8

In the beginning, God made Adam and Eve to have fellowship with Him and to enjoy everything that He had made.  He gave them a beautiful garden to live in and they had all of their needs met.  However, Satan, God’s enemy, entered the beautiful garden and deceived Eve into transgressing against the Word of God.  As a result of this deception, called sin, Adam and Eve were banded from the beautiful garden.  As a result of his sin, God told Adam that that he would now have to work by the sweat of his face to get anything to eat.  Sin reduced Adam to slavery, and severed his relationship with God (Genesis 3).

 Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, and return humankind back into relationship and fellowship with God the Father. The Bible tells us that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and that we have of His fullness all received grace for grace (John 1:16-17).
 
The simplest definition of God’s “grace” is, the power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  The fact is that we cannot do anything for ourselves.  Jesus said, “…without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  The grace of Christ in our lives can accomplish for us what all human efforts have failed to produce.  God’s grace is something that He does for the benefit of His people just because He loves them.  God’s grace can never be earned; it is totally free.  God’s grace in our lives enables us to trust Him.  We are admonished to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).  I love the refrain of a hymn that says, “only trust Him more and more,” and we can because of grace. 

The Christian life is not a life of force but of favor

-          Satan reduces you to slavery.

-          Jesus grows you to greatness.

-          Satan severs relationships.

-          Jesus develops them.

-          Satan takes away your choices.

-          Jesus helps you make the right choices

                                                          Daisy Osborn

Prayer—Father, thank you for your grace in my life.  Through your grace I am able to trust you more and more, in Jesus Name. Amen.