I hope this post finds you well and in the love of Jesus! He is our prize and our inheritance, our Redeemer! May you enjoy this wonderful Christmas season!
Grace
I have struggled with the magnitude of this word. Throughout the scriptures, grace is revealed as being an attribute or an inherent part of who God is. So, when we say that God is gracious, we are trying to define and sum up an aspect of who God is. In short, God Himself is gracious.
So how would we define grace? Grace is: God’s favorable disposition towards us. What do I mean by that? God is readily inclined to give Himself to those who seek Him. For example, when talking about God’s readiness to answer our prayers, Jesus says the Father is like an earthly father who is ready to give his son a loaf of bread. In saying this, Jesus is revealing the favorable disposition or grace of God towards us. Put simply, God is ready and willing to give Himself to us; He is gracious.
The Appearing
Look at what Paul has to say about this:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men…
Titus 2:11
Knowing what we know of grace, think about what Paul is saying to Titus. Grace, the favorable disposition of God, has been manifested to us in the appearing of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, left His throne and became the supreme manifestation of God’s favorable disposition. Jesus Himself is the very grace of God that is “bringing salvation to all men…”
Questions and Response
Are you walking in the grace of God? Are you being filled with the very life of Christ, your salvation? Or are you putting faith in your own resource, talent, or goodness to live a holy and righteous life? To be honest, I struggle with this. In my desire to please Jesus, I can be quick to turn in on myself and try to “perform” the Christian life. Time and time again, I am finding that none of this self-propelled living will do; only Jesus, the grace of God, can cause me to walk worthy of His calling. The grace that saves is not something apart from God that we receive. No, it is Jesus Himself that we receive; the grace of God.
As we walk through this Christmas season, I pray that the appearing of the grace of God in a manger will usher us into an even deeper relationship with Jesus Himself. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given…”
In Jesus,
TJMcPherson
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