John 1:16 – 17 says, “For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Whatever we have in Jesus comes from His FULLNESS in God. Through this relationship, He is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). We are incomplete without Christ. He is the Word of God made flesh, who reveals Abba Father to us. Through Jesus, we have everything we need. He is our infinite source of grace and truth. Grace is always present in the heart of God and His grace appears throughout the Old and New Testaments. Jesus came into the world as the Son of God, to make Him known to us in ways that were not yet fully known (John 1:17). Without this gift, the wages of our sins were death. So, Jesus took our place on the cross. He died a sinner’s death, paying for our sins. When there was no way, Jesus made a way and He saved us through the gift of grace—a gift we can never pay back. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.”
The famous song “Amazing Grace” was written by John Newton in 1772, some years after he had a near death experience. Prior to John Newton’s life as an ordained minister, he participated in the Atlantic slave trade and captained a slave ship. During a particularly violent storm off the coast of Ireland in 1748, Newton prayed desperately to God to save him and his ship from sinking. As the ship was tossed back and forth, some of the crews were swept overboard, but Newton was spared, and the ship reached safety. John Newton marked this event as his moment of conversion to Christianity which set him on a path towards redemption.
God’s grace is not just extended to us at salvation, but for EVERY part of life. “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10). Grace is available to us for every challenge and trial and temptation we face. We have overflowing abundant grace from God. In 1 Tim. 1:14 Paul wrote – “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me ABUNDANTLY, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” When Paul uses the word “abundantly,” it actually means “super-abundantly” or “an exceeding abundant amount.”
Like Paul, we were also rebellious and very sinful, but our Lord’s loving grace reached out to us and saved us. Now Christ continues to lavish His love, mercy and grace upon us as we seek to serve Him fervently. We dare not take this grace for granted but be thankful that it is new and fresh every morning! We must live lives that display the loving grace of Christ in ALL we do.
Precious Abba Father, thank you that I too, can sing this song -” Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I was once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Thank You blessed Redeemer, for rescuing me and setting me free from the bonds of enslaved sin. Thank you for your abundant mercy and grace! Amen
Myrtle Turunen