GRACE..God's riches at Christ's expense!

G R A C E...please stop making it cheap.  It is free to all who receive it and believe in what Christ did for us when he died and rose again~but it is not cheap!

It breaks my heart to see people who try to cheapen the GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Yes, it is true that our sins, past, present and future are forgiven by the finished work of Calvary.  BUT....this does not give us the right, the licensee to live unholy.  No, we can never be good enough to earn the gift of this Grace, but it does not mean we can sin and do what ever we feel like doing because we are covered by His Grace.  That is making a mockery of the awesome work of His Death, Burial and Resurrection.  May that never be what we as believers do.

We are called out to be a chosen people, separate from the world.  The word says a peculiar people.  Does that mean we will not sin?  NO, we are still in our human form, and we will slip up and sin, we are not above sin, but we are NOT to opening purposely sin because we have the gift of Grace to cover our sins.  We are called to be a holy people. 

Holy...consecrated or set aside for sacred use (as opposed to pagan or common use); standing apart from sin and evil; characteristic of God, especially the third person of the Trinity.   Sinless~NO, Perfect~NO, Better than others~NO......Forgiven~YES.

Please, I beg you...look at your life and ask yourself, am I making the wonderful Grace of Jesus Cheap?

Purpose in your heart to be set apart, to walk a Holy Life, to Thank God everyday when He forgives you of your shortcomings and sins....but don't get caught up in the lie that Grace gives you the liberty to live like this world.  We are not of this world, we are called to be the light of this world, causing the people to want what we have that makes us shine.  If we live life like we can do, say and act anyway we want to; what would make the world see us as having overcome this world?  What would make them want what we have?

My prayer today, this last day of 2011, is that the Lord would help me to be an over comer and not be filled with condemnation about past failures, sins and disappointments.  I choose to thank God for the GRACE He has given to me and to live my life in such a way that others will want what I have. 

S H I N E on for Christ in 2012!