Monday Morning Challenge

Monday, February 3, 2014

February 3, 2014

On Sunday I challenged everyone to be a messenger of God’s grace this week.  But in order to avoid the pitfalls I talked about (Bonhoeffer’s “Cheap Grace” and our tendency to be “Stingy” or hold back when sharing God’s grace), we need to start by saturating our hearts and minds with the grace God has given us.  We have to let ourselves be filled with the knowledge of God’s great love so that when we share God’s grace we do so from the overflow of our hearts. 

The following scriptures are some of the wonderful places where God helps us understand his grace toward us.  Read them prayerfully.  Stop whenever a word strikes you.  Pray about whatever comes to your mind as you read them and reflect on what they mean. 

John 1:14-18
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and^[a] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Acts 4:32-35
³² All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Romans 3:23-24
²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-9
⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

Hebrews 4:14-16
¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,^[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

2 Peter 3:17-18
¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Now take this message of grace and share it!  Let God use you to be a channel through which his grace flows into another heart – a heart God longs to capture with his love. 

If you would like to read ahead, next week’s scripture lesson is Acts 11:19-30