Focus: On Grace We Stand

Text: Rom.5:2

"This grace wherein we stand…"

The Christian life begins in grace and ends in glory. Grace leaves no ground for man's pride or ego. On our own we can do nothing to gain divine approval.

Paul warns, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1Cor.10:12). We are all prone to failing and falling in different ways, in different places, and at different times. One person may be strong where another is weak. We all have our unique strengths and weaknesses.

Take for an example the disciples of Christ:

In Lk.6:13, Jesus CALLED and CHOSE them.

In Mk.3:14, Jesus ORDAINED them.

In Lk.9:2 and 10:1, Jesus APPOINTED and SENT them to PREACH and HEAL. But when and where it mattered most, at the very critical juncture and most crucial moment of Jesus' life, "ALL the disciples FORSOOK him and FLED" (Mt.26:56). Not even one person could stand with Him. In fact, one of His disciples had to flee naked, leaving His clothes behind. He chose running away stark naked over staying with, or sticking to Jesus in His hour of agony and death. Mark writes, "He left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked" (Mk.14:51-52).

When Jesus went about doing good and working miracles, the disciples were with Him. But as soon as He came face to face with trouble and imminent death, they took to their heels.

The cross reveals what is in us - our fallible nature. By nature and nurture we are flawed beings. By the sciences of genetics and environment we are depraved. We possess in us the potential to fail. We have an old saying that 'there's something good in the worst of us, and something bad in the best of us, so that it becomes unbecoming when some of us talk about the rest of us.'

The believer's transformation and growth is from one level of glory to another. We move up the ladder of holiness level by level. We advance in our holy walk with God as we encounter Him in the innermost part of our beings.

Our porter-God keeps molding us until the best in us shines out. He keeps taking out of us stuff that is unneeded and unwanted. Our part involves constant yielding of ourselves to the Lord. Paul says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath BEGUN a good work IN you will perform it UNTIL the DAY of Jesus Christ" (Phil.1:6).

Jesus will keep working in us till the day He comes back for us. God has no abandoned projects. Christ is at work in you, and He will not stop until He is perfectly done. In His grace we stand. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter