| Not only are we saved by grace—“by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”—but we must also live and love and labor by God’s enabling grace. Only thus can we “serve God acceptably.” And God’s grace has been provided for every possible circumstance and situation which might enter into our lives. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Paul testified that “by the grace of God I am what I am. … I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” So God’s Word encourages us to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Helpless and needy ourselves, having nothing to offer God except ourselves as living sacrifices, we hear Him saying to us that “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Let us, therefore, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” |
