“But we see Jesus, who was made for a little while lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour, because of the suffering of death, that by the grace of God he might taste death for all.” (Heb 2:9)
Wonderfully, this Thursday, we want to be inserted into the heart of Jesus, and receive, from the source of all holiness, the life we want to live by the grace of God; this is what gladdens, attracts, moves, and impels our heart: the heart of Jesus in ours and our heart in His!
So, beloved of God, we need to walk with grace, in grace, and by the grace of God. What is the grace of God? How to walk in it? What do we need to know to remain in this grace?
Grace is the opposite of disgrace! We can say of Jesus’ death, as presented in this passage from the book of Hebrews, that it is the grace of God. Jesus died, and His death can benefit us. But how can we benefit from Jesus’ death?
“But we believe that we shall be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in like manner as they also.” (Acts 15:11)
The death of Jesus brings us salvation! The cross, which was synonymous with curse, became God’s greatest blessing for us. Salvation is the grace that Jesus offers us through His death on the cross. His shed blood is the grace that heals and liberates us. His love was poured out on the cross...
“In love he hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, unto the praise of the glory of his grace, with which he hath graced us in his beloved Son. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which hath superabounded in us in all wisdom and prudence:” (Eph 1:5-8)
Therefore, the cross of Jesus which became a blessing, His blood, redemption, the remission of sins, His infinite love, the death of Jesus, salvation are graces of God for our life, in the three dimensions we explore in this blog: physical, psychological, and spiritual. This grace reaches our body: the grace of God heals us from all sickness and illness, which are not God’s will.
It also reaches our soul: transforming our being, our way of thinking, our way of acting and dealing with others, our thoughts, feelings, etc. And finally, it frees our spirit from all spiritual imprisonment, gives us joy, frees us from all curses, from all hereditary yokes, from every burden we carry. In short, the grace of God touches us in all dimensions, if we want and allow it.
Saint Paul is the man of God, an expert in speaking about these terms and subjects of God’s grace. Just as he explains, in his letter to the Romans, his desire to do the good he wanted, but lived doing the evil he did not want, because of the sin that dwelt in him and the thorn in his flesh, he also explains the action of God’s grace in his life, in his letter to the Corinthians.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than all they (Jesus’ disciples): yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Cor 15:10)
It is always a matter of a process, as we have commented several times on this blog. God NEVER does things overnight, NEVER without preparation, and NEVER without wanting to. Everything is a matter of preparation and the time He determines or allows. But then, if this is the case, what about conversion, in the case of people who say they are converted to the grace of God? Conversion is a process! It is a decision, driven by the grace of God, that we make one day. But it is something that is affirmed and re-affirmed every day until we reach heaven, where we will be totally transformed and converted.
The grace of God works in our hearts, making us similar to the giver of grace. All hatred is transformed into love, all envy healed by self-knowledge, all impurity healed by holiness, all selfishness transformed into sharing, all sin and disgrace transformed into grace...
As we open ourselves and allow the grace of God to occupy the places in our lives that were once occupied by sin, we are molded and learn to be and remain similar to our Creator, we become pleasing to God, that is, we relearn to be what we truly are.
Our nature is sinful. God’s nature is holy. Closed in on ourselves, the most we can offer God is the sin that dwells in us. When we open ourselves to God’s grace, it superabounds over our nature. This means that we need to allow God’s nature to act abundantly in our nature.
“But where sin hath abounded, grace hath superabounded: that as sin hath reigned unto death, so also grace might reign by justice unto life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 5:21)
Another point we can highlight as being God’s grace is faith! Faith is a gift, a grace that comes from God and must return with works to God, because faith without works is dead faith. And we must not forget that just like love, if faith is not nourished, it dies. And how do we nourish it? With the grace of God! By being consistent in our Christian life everywhere. By embracing our faith as a necessity for us, and living by faith
“as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’” (Rom 1:17)
This grace of God, which is faith, must be our strength. It is through it that we stand firm on the rock that is Jesus, and from Him we receive the precious treasure of His passion and resurrection, which is salvation.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God by our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access unto this grace wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of God.” (Rom 5:1-2)
From here we have already given some answers to what faith is and how to walk in it. Let us, then, resolve the next question we raised, “what we need to know to remain in this grace.”
“Be not carried away with diverse and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be strengthened with grace, not with meats; which have not profited them that are busied with them.” (Heb 13:9)
Sharing this passage above, we touch on a delicate point for some Christians who do not accept the fullness of truth and grace, and therefore do not reach the fullness of faith. The DIVERSITY OF STRANGE DOCTRINES, invented by men, break and cease the grace of God that comes into our lives. The author of the letter to the Hebrews is giving a command not to let ourselves be led astray by these doctrines. Unfortunately, some Christians have not understood this passage from the word of God.
In his time, Napoleon Bonaparte was questioned by his soldiers:
-Napoleon, you are powerful, you know many things, why don’t you found a religion?
He replied:
-To found a religion, two things are necessary: and one I do not want, and the other I cannot do.
They said:
-How can you not? You can do anything! What can’t you do?
Napoleon concluded:
-The first thing I don’t want is to die on a cross, and the second thing I cannot do is rise on the third day!
Another point touched upon in this passage is the issue of foods. Many confuse this detail about foods so much that they founded religions because of it; just as some founded religions simply to be able to marry again, to be able to have sex, to be able to live dissolutely, to be able to do whatever they want... And increasingly they separate from each other and do not fulfill God’s will, which is unity.
The grace of God must be the light at the end of the tunnel in our lives. Our life is often a dark, dirty, smelly, rotten tunnel, full of everything that is worthless. But the grace of God is within our reach, to the point that we can see it, but we must have the courage to touch it and live it.
Why do many people not walk in the grace of God and easily stray from the presence of the Lord?
Because they do not have the courage to touch the light that is the grace of God and let it envelop us, making us come out of the shadows and darkness. May the grace of God be the light that guides us and shows us the direction we want to follow. Let us go together in this direction, my brothers and sisters, because our destiny is heaven.
To conclude, we close today’s post with a word from Saint Paul, wishing you the blessings and the fullness of God’s graces. May God bless you with all kinds of graces and give you strength to remain in them... Amen!
“But all things that are rebuked, are by the light made manifest: for all that is manifest is light. Wherefore he saith: Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall illuminate thee.” (Ephesians 5:13-14)
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