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Class 17: Grace
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Think about the apostle Paul for a moment. Look what the gift of God's grace had meant to him in his life! He went from being a persecutor of the Church to an apostle of Jesus Christ labouring more exhaustively than any of the other apostles and all this by God's gift of grace! 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.
This is what God's grace does! It enriches our lives by delivering us from spiritual destitution and death by turning us to life and riches in Christ Jesus!
Why was grace able to accomplish so much in Paul's life? Because he was so responsive to it! It was his responsiveness to grace that meant he could declare,
The grace God gave me has not proved a barren gift!
1 Corinthians 15:10 - J.B.Phillips' translation
Think about yourself. Grace wasn't a barren gift in bringing forth your eternal salvation. Don't let it be a barren gift in bringing forth that daily salvation you need so you can live in Christ and with Christ moment by moment.
If you deprive yourself of grace or if you allow it to be in your life in vain then you can end up in as bad a mess as Jacob's brother Esau ended up in. The Message Translation calls Esau's condition the Esau Syndrome - "trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite". See Heb.12:15-16.
Grace will keep you free from the Esau Syndrome. It will keep you in that marvellous place where you are ever enjoying Christ's lifelong gift. Be open and yielded to God's grace! Be responsive to it. Go with its holy influence over you. Grace will bring forth "godliness with contentment" for you.
Be exuberantly thankful about grace's glorious work in your life!
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