V - the story of: Grief vs Grace.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

« Grief vs Grace. »

A cycle of grief, or a cycle of grace.

A cycle of grace is when, BEGINNING with the knowledge, understanding and foundation of faith that God unconditionally accepts us for who we are.

Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

|
|
\/

Then, we progress onto sustenance; our resources are constantly renewed through dependance on God and God alone.

Ephesians 2:7
in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

|
|
\/

Our identity is then established in Him, with a sense of significance.

Ephesians 2:6
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

|
|
\/

Finally, all of our hard work, endeavour and faithfulness to Him, results in the fruit that we bear...in loving, obedient ministry.

Ephesians 4:10
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

We can also got through a cycle of grief...which is the exact opposite of this cycle of grace.As opposed to starting with the knowledge of unconditional grace, we are driven by achievement...we hope to achieve ourselves with an identity.

This develops into our need to establish our identity, with significance dependant on what we can achieve.

With this identity set in place, we drive ourselves to make oureslves more acceptable to others, compromising our beliefs and striving for this success in everything we possibly can.

As a result of all this, we find that the sense of acceptance is fragile, a fleeting moment...so we go around the cycle once more, fueling our emptiness with the acceptance of others.

An amazing thing I learnt the other day...was the fundamental difference between grace and mercy. Grace is what God has bestowed upon us...where we are naturally born sinners, as a result of Adam and Eve's original transgressions, we inherit and assimilate this evil and are offensive to God's eyes. Ephesians 2:4-5 says it perfectly...

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Mercy means that we have been spared the punishment of our crimes, comparable to when a King shows mercy to a criminal.

But it doesn't mean that they aren't criminals. They are branded by their offense, which is not forgotten. They simply avoided punishment; justice ISN'T fulfilled in this outcome...

But grace, means that Jesus has paid for our sin. Grace means that our transgressions go, along with the stigma of being a sinner...our old identity is cleansed, as well as our wrongs. Everything has been paid for. The king no longer looks at you as a criminal, but treats you as one of his own flesh and blood.

Amazing.

「€Œ 10:58 am 」 » Comments:




(0) comments