The Essentials of Grace!

Grace is the most important concept in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ. Everything Christians are in Christ is just by the grace of God. Grace is defined in different ways.  Theologians define it as God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. It can also be defined as God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves or God sending His only begotten son to descend into hell on the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled unto God so we ascend into heaven (2 Corinthians 5:21). Romans 3:23 makes us understand that all of us have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory but grace came to the rescue, reconciling us unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So grace is most needed and best understood in the midst of sin, suffering, and brokenness. We live in a world of earning, deserving, and merit, and these result in judgment. That is why everyone wants and needs grace. Judgment kills but only grace makes alive. The grace of God gives the unmerited or undeserving favour of God to those who are under condemnation (Romans 3:22-24, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:8-10, John 1:17, Romans 5:17), and this grace comes with some level of truth. The essentials of this grace cannot be overemphasized; it is what catapults the believer into different levels in life.

1. The grace of God offers salvation. Titus 3:5, John 3:3. We’re not saved by our works of righteousness but the grace of God. It is God’s grace which causes a man’s heart to believe unto righteousness and his mouth to confess unto salvation.
2. The grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Galatians 5:16-21. The grace of God is greater than sin such that it makes sin look unattractive to believers. If you’ve got the grace of God actively in your life, you’ll triumph over sin through Jesus Christ.
3. Grace teaches us self-control, upright and godly living. Galatians 5:22. God’s grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this world, instructing us to deny godlessnessand worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age. When we really see and believe what God is for us by grace through Jesus Christ, the power of wrong desires is broken.
4. The grace of God delivers us from all wickedness. Titus 2:14
5. Grace makes us children of God. Godis the one who gave the right to become a child of God according to His gracious will. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God (1 John 3:1).
6. The grace of God teaches us to do what is right.

As Christians, one of the most important things we need to fully understand is the grace of God. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.