GRACE
Autor: Arlete Simões | Publicado: 2009-06-03T15:52:00-07:00

The apostle Paul starts all his 13 letters of the Bible with the same greeting: "Grace and peace from God, our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ ..." For him, Grace comes firstly, and then comes peace. Because he had found out that one may have everything, including a sincere religion, may do everything right, but if he does not have the grace of God has nothing!Only God’s grace can bring the true peace. What is grace?Grace is simply to give love to those who do not deserve to be loved. Paul was a killer and a persecutor of the early Christians. The first martyr of the church was killed with his approval. So, he was very grateful to God for the grace of his salvation and his missionary calling. In the first letter to the Corinthians he says: “I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact, I caused so much trouble for God's church that I don't even deserve to be called an apostle. But God was kind! He made me what I am, and his wonderful kindness wasn't wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God's kindness at work and not me.” (15:9/10)It is the same with us today. We are saved by grace, and, all we can do now is by grace too.But, sometimes, we forget that everything is God’s grace. For example: 1. We may think that, since we are saved, we are better than others. But, in fact, the only difference among us is the grace;2. We may think that, since we are obedient, we do everything like God wants, then we deserve blessings. And we may charge of God when He does not do what we want, as if He had an obligation. But God does not owe anything to anyone; on the contrary, we owe Him all respect and gratitude for his amazing grace. 3. We may think that now we have to do everything right all the time to maintain our salvation (to deserve it!). But it is impossible to do everything right. Luther had been isolated from the world in a monastery to avoid the sin. Until he had to say: “there’s no way to escape from the world because the world is inside me!”We are being transformed day by day for God. but we are still sinners. We are "under construction". The Bible shows us who we are: hypocritical, proud, envious, liars, gossipy, vengeful, arrogant, selfish, fearful, lascivious, but as we have difficulty in seeing these sins, God allows us to see who we are in order to us repent and to be forgiven by Him. Paul said: “Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ... those who walk according to the Spirit”. (Rm 8:1) Do you feel guilty or charged   because of your sins?Be repented, abandon the sin and receive the grace, the forgiveness of God. So, enjoy the peace and serve God with the gifts He has given you. The only thing Jesus is waiting for now is that you distribute the grace that you have received. You and I must to give love to those who do not deserve to be loved. The people outside are waiting to see the grace of God in us. And Jesus wants to be seen through the Christians. So it is the same inside the Church. We must give grace to our brothers and sisters when they fall… as we want to receive the grace from them when we fall.The grace we receive from God daily must to be distributed.Are you doing this?