What Makes Our Faith Unique?
By John Herring
Why are we so blessed? God’s grace.
Why is our faith unique? God’s grace.
God’s grace is His unmerited (unearned/undeserved) favor on us. The English word love is not strong enough to describe it. God’s grace is the over-abundance of love poured out on us in unmeasured truckloads on our undeserved pointed heads.
We don’t deserve God’s grace, and we could never possibly be able to earn or achieve it. God’s grace is boundless.
Think about this:
- The Buddhist seeks enlightenment.
- The Muslim seeks approval through acts of obedience or desperation to achieve a place in heaven.
- The Hindu hopes to live well enough to be reincarnated into a better host.
BUT, we Christians can do nothing on our own behalf. Rather, Christ has all done everything (He’s paid the price) for God’s grace to be poured out on us. Therefore, the lives we live are in obedience to the testimony of grace displayed to us through Him. God is so good to us.
- “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about.” ––Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)
God’s grace is limitless. It is not bound by time, distance, or volume, and it cannot be diluted. You cannot hold all of it in your hand––it is not yours to hold and is too expansive to contain. You cannot reproduce it––you do not have the capacity to do so. Even so, God has given each of us a little piece of it to use to build each other up (Eph. 4:2). You cannot hide it from others––it has a brilliance all its own.
- “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deed.”––Tit. 2:11-14 (NLT)
God’s grace demands a response. Because of His great grace, we have to respond by loving God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We can rejoice on awesome dew-covered mornings! We live to glorify Him. We live to emulate our blessed God of boundless grace. Because of grace, we do not have the right to withhold grace from others.
As you relish in the grace of the Father this morning, reflect it–– share it with the world you encounter. Just as the dew reflects shining spheres of light from the sun, be a reflection of God’s grace to an ever-darkening world today.
