May 23, 2011
” But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you — from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 The Message
What happens when GRACE becomes real inside of you …?
God’s grace is life-changing. Your insides change. All of those unseen places inside of you begin to change. You’ll actually live on the settled ground that Christ is the night and day difference of your life. There won’t be any other way to explain it. How could you not change when God’s love for you is so perfect through all your imperfections? Nothing’s going to change His mind about you. You don’t have to make promise after promise to try harder or promise to be good today. The grace of God in Jesus is so powerful that your life becomes His work and voice to speak out for Him. God is that good. Jesus confirms all of the truth about grace when He says you will do the same work that He did when He walked this earth. Your life becomes a message of grace that you offer to anyone. You won’t worry anymore about whether God accepts you or whether you have to make up for all those mistakes. You begin to love deeply. You begin to realize that the reason you are reaching out or sharing a moment with someone is because Jesus did the same thing with you and you aren’t the same as you once were. All of this happens because the dying power of Christ on the cross becomes the living power of Christ risen in your life. You don’t keep something like this to yourself. You love a “nothing” into a “something” in the name of Jesus. It could be your spouse .. your children .. your friends .. or someone at work. It doesn’t matter who any longer. It’s His work that He’s doing through you. God begins with all those “nothing” spots and all those “rejected” places in your heart and loves you into someone who lives and loves as one accepted in Christ. That way you’ll trust Him and do what He did. It only takes a moment …
“The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing.” John 14:12
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Accepted Somethings following Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)
