Grace is not an attribute of God like goodness, holiness, justice or the many others expressed in the scriptures. It is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit like love, joy and peace. Grace is not who God is or what God produces. Grace is God's chosen method to connect with people. Grace is how God connects inside the Trinity. Grace is how God has chosen to relate to those who receive His Son. The ultimate favor of being inside an intimate permanent relationship with God as the initiator and source. Father and Son; Husband and Wife; Parent and Child; all these relationships mirror partially aspects of the perfect unity of the Trinity. We are given by grace that same unity freely when we receive grace.
"Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible." - Ephesians 6:23-24 ESV
Grace is intrinsically linked to eternal life. Grace is also inseparable from knowing Jesus Christ. We can not have eternal life without grace. We can not have eternal life without Christ.
"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:11-12 ESV
People can talk about God's attributes. They can call Him loving and just and still be disconnected. They can exhibit what seems like the fruit of the Spirit as kind and compassionate people but still be very disconnected. Grace is the connection to eternal life. Without grace God's attributes are intimidating and distant and the fruits of the Holy Spirit are great methods to be counterfeited because they won't be produced by the Spirit in and through a person.
The Gospel is the Gospel of Grace because there would be no other message that could connect a person to God. That is why grace will always be my focus and why I always return to it in my thinking. It is the essence of my intimacy with God. It is how I relate to who God Is and how I connect to what He has done and will produce in my life.
Amazing grace is a sweet sound because it saved a wretch like me. Now as a found person it grows sweeter and sweeter because it is my unseverable connection to the God who I am continually getting to know.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16 ESV
If you have not yet... Believe in what Jesus did. Let God lead you to the water and drink of it. Accept the sacrifice given for your salvation and receive it as yours. This is our first agreement with God. His first gift to us was life itself this gift is the gift of eternal life without beginning or end. Believe and it can be yours. Just believe.
Believing once opens a channel of believing. Grace is that channel.
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