Grace and peace
How do we rationalise the difference between being a human who will continually fail and sin, and being told to live a holy, obedient life that will end in a judgment? How do we not feel unworthy and wretched that we constantly fail to live up to this holy calling? How are we possibly going to stand a chance?
“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time — to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:9, NLT)
Well that’s a relief because I don’t deserve to be saved by God’s grace! None of us do but that’s the point. That is why God’s grace is beyond our ability to understand.
“May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.” (2 Peter 1:2, NLT
God’s grace means undeserved favour and we are told that it makes us justified or ‘right with God’ after baptism even though we are still sinners. Peace from God is the inner calm you can feel when your faith in God’s grace becomes confidence in God’s grace. Inner peace for a sinner sounds impossible right? Wrong. That’s what the Bible is for. You find this inner peace and learn to trust God’s grace with knowledge. This word knowledge found in 2 Peter 1:2 means not only to have a full knowledge of God but also a strong participation with Him to the point where He has great influence over you.
Right, so the more we read, study, learn and know about God, the more powerfully He can influence us and that influence can become inner peace as our faith grows.
“When God our Saviour revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.” (Titus 3:4-8, NLT)
Because of the undeserved grace with which God forgives our sins and makes us right with Him, we should be pumped up to devote ourselves to doing good for Him.
When the NLT (New Living Translation) says “confidence of salvation”, the KJV (King James Version) says “hope of salvation”. The original Greek of this word “hope” is confident expectation. Now I’ve definitely never felt confident of salvation that’s for sure, but the more I study I realise it’s a different story when the confidence is in God’s grace, not in myself. Confidence in the fact that because of God’s unfathomable grace, that makes us RIGHT with Him. I am not going to miss out on the Kingdom just because I will never be able to stop sinning – even though I try so hard and care so much. THAT is God’s grace and the peace that comes from it. The weight of sin lifted off my shoulders. “Dead to the power of sin” once baptised into Christ. Hard to fathom, hard to believe, but that is faith.