Snipits of grace... The letter "E"

This may be the last letter but it's the first thing that Grace is about...

Let's see...

E = Essence of God himself...

Peter, a man who understood Grace, writes... The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

 

His heart breaks to see us come home. To understand this you must look at where he shows up with Grace.

 

In the garden, it was Grace that kept Adam and Eve from eating of the tree of life, if they had, we'd live eternally in the decay of sin.

 

It was Grace that Noah found when the world was so bent against the things of God.

 

It was Grace that Moses received when he bowed his head to the ground and asked for it in spite of being part of a "stiff-necked" group of insolents.

 

It's this Grace Paul said we were saved by, He and Silas recommended it for the lives of those they taught, not just to receive it for their salvation but to pass it along to the brethren.

 

It was Grace Paul appealed to when a repentant brother came home after immoral relations with his fathers wife.

 

It was Grace, in it's truest form, that kept Jesus on task all the way to the cross, and then all the way back home to complete the job so His father could call us home.

 

It is the very fragrance of God, take a whiff, smell that aroma of praise, forgiveness and holiness, that's Grace!!

What's your response to God's Grace?

 

Examine and act accordingly.

 

Maybe you need to remove a burden your heart has carried.

 

Maybe you need it to clean a sin that has robbed you of sleep and sanity.

 

Or maybe you need it to remind you of your responsibility to pass it along when you have been a recipient.

 

Look and act accordingly.

Rambling in the wonderful richness of some old hymns... Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!

 

Then there's my all time favorite, it was sung acapella by the Cathedral Quartet years ago... Wonderful Grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it, Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free; O the Wonderful Grace of Jesus reaches me!

Here is Ernie Haas' group in tribute to the Cathedrals...