Living on the Foundation of Grace

Here are nine practical suggestions for cultivating a life built on the foundation of the grace of Christ:

1. Start your day by thanking God for Christ's sacrifice and your salvation
2. Set aside a regular time each day for the Word and prayer
3. Spend this time alone with the Lord
4. Start by asking the Lord to show you your sins, and confessing them
5. Read Scripture for the purpose of finding one verse or idea to apply to your life
6. Look for truths not just to obey, but also to trust in and praise God for
7. Write out a prayer of meditation and response
8. Every time you are convicted of sin, thank God for this evidence of His grace
9. Every time you face a trial, thank God for this evidence of His grace

Love, Grace, and the Gospel

I was meditating upon Ephesians 2:1-10, which emphasizes that we are saved by God's grace. His grace is God's motive in saving us, which means that His motive has nothing to do with anything attractive or appealing in us. A parallel idea is found in verses 4-5, "God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ." Based on this passage, we could define God's grace as the great undeserved love (or favor) God freely gives to people who only deserve wrath from Him (2:3 “by nature children of wrath”).

Now let’s compare the reason we love God, to the reason He loves us so much to save us.

Our reasons are very different, in a sense. We love Him because of how attractive and appealing He is to us. But His saving love has nothing to do with anything attractive or appealing in us. We were in no way attractive or appealing to Him.

Yet there is a sense in which our reasons for loving each other are very similar. We love Him because of how attractive and appealing His grace is to us. And He savingly loves us because of how attractive and appealing His grace is to Him. Because we are attracted to His grace, we receive it, which is loving God. Because He is attracted to His grace, He gives it, which is loving us.

Praise God for the saving grace which He lavishes on His people!