Faithbase

Hello everyone. I wanted to take some time this afternoon to talk about grace. I think we as believers, as Christians, and even just human beings in general, we tend to judge others simply because they are different or because mainly because they sin differently than us. We treat people based upon how they treat us. We respond based upon how they're treating us or how they're responding to us. And I think that we pay more attention to the sin than we do the sinner, the child of God. And I think one of the main reasons we do this is because we forget who we were before Christ entered into our hearts. Before we submitted and surrendered our lives to Christ, we forget where we come from. I want to point your attention to Titus 3 through 7 because Paul reminds us who we were before. He says, Not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy, he saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that having been justified by his grace, we become heirs having the hope of eternal life. We are all simply sinners saved by grace. And because of the love that God has, and because of the Holy Spirit that lives within us, when we accepted them into our hearts, we are new creations. But before that, we don't have the power to be renewed. We didn't have the power to live a different life. We didn't have what was in us to live a life according to Christ because it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we had that ability. We look to the book of James when James says, I can do absolutely nothing without or outside of Jesus Christ. So I want to issue a challenge to you this week. When you go about your day, when you go about your week, I challenge you to remember where you come from. I challenge you to remember that we are all sinners saved by grace, because Paul also tells us in Ephesians and Philippians that we are called to live a life worthy of the gospel. And when you take that word worthy and you break it back down to the original Greek language, what Paul is saying is we are called to live a life that represents the characteristics of God. The last thing I ever want to do is profess Christ with my mouth and deny him with my lifestyle. So I challenge you treat others not based upon how they treat you, but treat others the way Christ treats you with mercy, with grace, with love. Even when we don't deserve it. The second greatest commandment God ever gave us was to love others as we love ourselves. And when we respond to people with love, when we respond to people with grace and mercy, then we also accept the calling that scripture has in our lives that tells us to be the light of the earth, be the salt, be a representation of Christ because when we respond that way, we show the love of God. Stay frosty mis amigos and never forget Jesus loves you.