Bridges of Grace
Is your life
a bridge of Grace to the world you encounter each day? The same grace that is
saving, growing and changing you is also intended to draw those around you to
Jesus. How so? His awesome grace works from the inside out in our lives;
changing us from glory to glory and wooing all whose lives we touch. Here are
some of the incredible ways that his grace works in and through our lives.
The Bible
portrays God’s Grace as the Manifold Grace of God. That
simply means His Grace has many facets. It’s like looking at a fine diamond
with many sides or facets. As such, grace has innumerable expressions to and
through those who have placed their faith in Christ. Another way of
understanding this great Grace is seeing it as a bridge that God builds toward
and out from those who believe the Gospel of Grace.
Each facet
of His Grace expressed in our lives is another plank of that bridge. He builds
this bridge of Grace to ensure that we successfully walk out the Christian
journey. As we walk in Grace others are drawn to that very same Grace. What a
wonderful and gracious God! Let’s examine some of the planks on this Bridge of
Grace. First, consider with me some of what the Grace of God means in our
lives.
Defining the Grace of
God
We all know
how impossible it would be to define the unfathomable facets of God’s Grace.
Defining the true breadth, length, depth, width, height and power of Grace is
beyond human description. Following is a simple glimpse. Grace is God’s Riches at Christ’s
expense (G.R.A.C.E.). It is God’s unlimited power toward those who
place their faith in Christ. Given to the believer as a gift, Grace enables us
to be what we could not possibly be, and to do what we could not possibly do in
our own strength and by our own best efforts.
The Difference between
the Grace and Mercy of God
Let me
humbly illustrate as I heard it put by another. Consider a Bank clerk who is a
thief and robs his own employer’s bank. Mercy forgives his crime and frees him
from the debt-but leaves him with the identity of a pardoned criminal. For
sure, this is a wonderful gesture.
With God’s
Grace-the guilty Bank clerk is not only forgiven, but is then installed as the
joint owner-sharing in all the present and future profits. The moment God’s
Grace is applied, he goes from being a guilty-pardoned criminal to sharing
equally in all that his master is and has! His identity is completely changed,
his future is forever altered and secured and his previous reality is totally
forgiven and forgotten. Mercy is not
getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve. “Of
His fullness have we all received, and Grace upon Grace.” John 1:6
The Mercy
and Grace of God always work hand in hand. The Cross of Christ secures and
applies the Mercy of forgiveness and innocence restored. The Grace of Christ
empowers a new and living way, the walk of Christ in and through us! Neither
will ever be frustrated or diminished by our shortcomings or performance. They
have their sole origin in and through Christ!
“The time of
the restoration of all things (which is now) is characterized by a mighty
outpouring of God’s Grace by the Holy Spirit. The forceful removal of all the
mountains that stand in the way (both personally and corporately) is being
accompanied by an unusual flowing out of the abundance of the Grace of God. And
the capstone of that completed work of restoration will be to the shouts of
Grace, Grace unto it.” See Zechariah 4:6-7.
According to
the Book of Acts (4:33), the power of the early church was that “great Grace
was upon them all”. It must also be said of the end time church that great
grace is upon us. The fullness of His Grace is potentially available to
each one of us. However, we have to learn how to progressively access it and
enter in to it more fully. How do we do this?
We Enter Through Faith
The key to
enter God’s treasure store of Grace is through faith. In this journey, we must
be constantly moving from “faith to faith” (Romans 1:16) and “grace to grace”
(John 1:16). When we are, we also move from “glory to glory” (2 Corinthians
3:18). Faith is always the key that opens wider the door to God’s abundance of
Grace. Even the key of faith is a gift of God’s great Grace! A measure of faith
is given to every believer and it is always more than enough.
The glory of
the Lord Jesus was that He alone was full of Grace and Truth. The glory that
John beheld was not the full heavenly glory of Christ’s Divine Majesty-that
would be more than any man could stand. John beheld the bearable but wonderful
glory of His grace. The glory of grace that we progressively bear in our lives
is ‘to the glory of His grace’ (see Ephesians 1:6-8). “Of His fullness have we
all received and grace upon grace” (John 1:16).
We are now
called to shine forth the glory of the New Covenant of Grace. It is a more
glorious glory than the fading glory that shone from Moses’ face as he came
down from his Mt. Sinai’s encounter with the presence of God. Why is it more
glorious? Because the covenant of grace that Jesus mediated on Calvary is
greater than the covenant of law that Moses received on Mt Sinai. Christ’s New
Covenant enables us to walk a new and living way of grace through faith.
Grace is the
treasure we find within, and Glory is the ever-increasing consequence of a
grace filled life. There are multitudes of ways that God’s Grace shows up in
our lives to enable/empower us to live out our high calling in Christ. The
following are a few that make up the planks in the Bridge of Grace that God
builds in and through the lives of all of His children.
Are you
walking out your Christian journey on this Grace Bridge? It is the only means
of crossing over the gaps between what has been to what can be-our potential in
Him and His future glory! “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
1. His prevenient grace ‘You see, at just the right time, when we were still
powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (see Romans 5) Consider
all the many ways through which God drew and loved you to Him.
2. His saving grace We are not just a forgiven sinner-that is mercy. We are sons
and daughters of God-a co-heir with Christ of all the Father has and is.
Through grace we enjoy the same relationship that the Trinity (Father, Son and
Holy Spirit) have enjoyed for all eternity. Mercy frees us from the debt and
penalty of sin-but grace takes us much further. It delivers us from the power
of sin and ends all claims of sin and the devil upon our lives. ‘He is able to
save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.’ (Hebrews 7:25)
3. His supernatural life by grace It cuts us off from our past
heredity and reveals Jesus as our new heredity line. Grace also releases
supernatural power to live a supernatural life as more than conquerors,
manifesting the very fragrance of Christ in our lives. Living so intimate with
Him that we even emit His awesome fragrance to all around us. (see Galatians
2:20, 2 Corinthians 2:14, Romans 8:30-37 and Romans 5:17)
4. His growing grace A friend of mine put it this way. Grace keeps us moving
forward to maturity in Christ. The Grace of God unfolds before us, preparing
the way of growth and the Grace of God folds up behind us, keeping us from
going back to our life before Him. Frank Peretti put it this way in one of his
books… (Insert your towns’ name) was a town looking forward to the past. Do the
old things again, just do them harder? Back your way out of any slump. Don’t go
forward, you’ve never been there. Replay the memory, it’s always better. That
old-time religion was good enough for our fathers and mothers and it’s good
enough for us. That is not the grace that grows us to new and exciting places
in God. Peretti exposes that most of us are comfortable with not growing
through grace. Most of Paul’s letters exhort us to grow forward in the Grace of
God.
Much more
could be said of His grieving, healing, sustaining, ministry, gifting and
forgiving grace. And those are just a few of His truly amazing manifold Grace.
As we continue to walk across the bridge of God’s Grace, we prove in our lives
that His Grace is sufficient and that His power is made evident in our
weakness. We must become Grace dependent people, together showing forth the
power of a Grace-filled Church!
In the grip
of His Amazing Grace! Ron Ross
