“Many people received God’s gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.”  Romans 5:15 (NCV)

We take our free gift of salvation and try to earn it or diagnose it or pay for it instead of simply saying “thank you” and accepting it.

Ironic as it may appear, one of the hardest things to do is to be saved by grace.  There’s something in us that reacts to God’s free gift.  We have some weird compulsion to create laws, systems, and regulations that will make us “worthy” of our gift.

Why do we do that?  The only reason I can figure is pride.  To accept grace means to accept its necessity and most folks don’t like to do that.  To accept grace also means that one realizes his despair, and most people aren’t too keen on doing that either.

By Max Lucado
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

Further Reading

•  The Christmas Story – the story of Jesus Birth
•   Christmas Prayers
•  Salvation Explained

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The post An Undeserved Gift appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” 2 Timothy 1:6

In 1924, a phonograph manufacturer first used “the gift that keeps on giving” as its slogan.  For those of you who do not recall what that is, it was a machine that played vinyl records as it spun and dragged a needle over the grooves. To have music in one’s home without being rich enough to have a private band playing at your whim was a huge thing! Radio was still very new, and television wouldn’t be a household object for at least another generation.

We believers have a gift that keeps on giving, don’t we?

The thing is, despite what some people think today, our gift never goes out of fashion. It is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Truly, He is the quintessential definition of the gift that keeps on giving. Because we have received Him into our hearts, minds and souls, we are eager to give Him away. The world doesn’t perceive that.

At a candlelight service, the ushers’ candles light the first person’s on the row and they in turn light the next one’s, and so on, until everyone in the congregation is holding a lit candle. One flame turns into many. We must take the light of Christ in our hearts and fan it into a flame so many can dip their candles into it by our testimony. Prayer, Bible study and worship will keep it ablaze so we can give it out, over and over to others. They in turn will pass the flame to light another’s life. What a gift!

Holy Lord, You ask us to let our light shine before others so that they may see our good works that glorify You. Let us give the light away so we can draw others into Your presence. Flame our hearts to spread the Good News of Your sacrifice and love. Amen.

By Julie Cosgrove
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• Jesus is Always There!
• God Knows Everything

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

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