Grace

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I

imoss

Banned
#41
Feb 27, 2007
3,179
19
0
#41
Quote:
Originally Posted by charisenexcelcis

I think that working at grace would be an oxymoron. It is likely that those who possess grace in fullest measure are not truly aware of it. It would seem to them that they are acting in a most normal fashion when all around them others are astonished at the grace displayed in their lives.

I thinkk you are right but it will not let me rep you
__________________
& it wont let me either... gotta go spread some around first.
 
S

shad

Guest
#42
#42
If we are receiving the grace of God, then we are being taught by grace. This is what the grace of God teaches us how to live in this present world.

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

v/12 ~ Graces teaches that we deny ungodliness and worldly lust and live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. This is what grace is teaching us, but how do we perform these things? Do we deny ungodliness and worldly lusts through obedience to the law or through faith in the finished work of the cross by putting on Christ (the new man) and putting off Adam (the old man)? Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts but putting on Christ who crucified the flesh of the old man Adam with all of his affections and lusts / Gal 5:24. We do this by faith. What if we don't put on Christ by faith and we fail? What do we do then? Do we start crying and work up some kind of remorse in our emotions to bring ourselves to a place of repentance? NO! We simply put on Christ by faith because the blood of Christ has made it possible.

When we put on Christ, that is living soberly with a very sound premise in the work of the atonement through the blood of Christ. Our atonement through the blood of Christ is positional, but we make it work for us experientially when we put on Christ. That is not only living soberly but also righteously because the blood paved the way for God to not only impute His righteousness when we believed, but to also impart righteousness in our experience when we walk from faith to faith / Rom 1:17, 2Cor 5:7. This is what grace teaches us and we are to continually grow in the grace and knowledge of the One who provided it through His blood / 2Pt 3:18. These are the kind of believers that you can trust because they will not condemn you nor will they compromise with your sin. There is only one thing they are after in their heart and that is Christ. They are not perfect but they are after the perfect One, Christ.
 
L

lil-rush

Guest
#43
#43
MahogonySnail said:
Just a thought lilrush is your problems of understanding grace related to the fact that you are trying to keep the law? Every christian goes through that at one stage or another I guess that's why it is called 'growing in grace', and many christians swing from one side to the other during their life but the answer is somewhere in the middle in balance. God's justice and His mercy , or law and grace need to be in balance.
Click to expand...
Not particularly. I get where you're going with this, but the law shows me how much I need grace and how much I fail at being graceful if anything.

Don't get me wrong. I know I lean more towards justice than mercy and grace, but that is not because I observe the laws. It's more because that is my temperament. I'm influenced by emotions, like anyone else, but my mind is more logical, regardless. I tend to see things in black and white. I don't naturally sympathize or empathize with people. I find the facts instead, and act based on that. And so, it is hard to be graceful.

***
Charisen, you point out that people cannot work to have grace. It is just something they possess. While I agree with that in theory, I also believe that people who are naturally graceful are blessed. If I do not have grace now, how am I supposed to get it except by working on it? As I become more graceful, it will become more natural for me to act that way. Until then, though, I must manually work to be graceful.

It is like math. I used to have to work to know how to add 2 + 2. Now I can do it without thinking. But if you give me trigonometry, I will need to work on it in order to solve it. So for the simple parts, I can do it without thiinking. It just comes naturally, but I must work on the harder parts. For others, though, trig is easy. It is like adding 2+2 for them. It is the same with grace, yes? For me, I am still at 2+2. That is easy, but give me a complex situation where grace is needed, and I can't do it unless I work through it. For you, you may be able to easily give out grace. That means you are at a higher level than me. I'm still learning.
 
C

charisenexcelcis

Guest
#44
#44
lil-rush said:
Not particularly. I get where you're going with this, but the law shows me how much I need grace and how much I fail at being graceful if anything.

Don't get me wrong. I know I lean more towards justice than mercy and grace, but that is not because I observe the laws. It's more because that is my temperament. I'm influenced by emotions, like anyone else, but my mind is more logical, regardless. I tend to see things in black and white. I don't naturally sympathize or empathize with people. I find the facts instead, and act based on that. And so, it is hard to be graceful.

***
Charisen, you point out that people cannot work to have grace. It is just something they possess. While I agree with that in theory, I also believe that people who are naturally graceful are blessed. If I do not have grace now, how am I supposed to get it except by working on it? As I become more graceful, it will become more natural for me to act that way. Until then, though, I must manually work to be graceful.

It is like math. I used to have to work to know how to add 2 + 2. Now I can do it without thinking. But if you give me trigonometry, I will need to work on it in order to solve it. So for the simple parts, I can do it without thiinking. It just comes naturally, but I must work on the harder parts. For others, though, trig is easy. It is like adding 2+2 for them. It is the same with grace, yes? For me, I am still at 2+2. That is easy, but give me a complex situation where grace is needed, and I can't do it unless I work through it. For you, you may be able to easily give out grace. That means you are at a higher level than me. I'm still learning.
Click to expand...
Grace is not a cause but an effect. I think that alot of factors go into it. The first that comes to mind is having the peace and joy of the Lord. When you have peace, you can "afford" to be gracious. The natural tendency to protect your territory is no longer taxing you. Perhaps that is the key, that you don't become full of His grace by seeking grace, but by seeking Him.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.