The Grace That Saves Our Souls
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.
Philippians 3:7-8 NIV
The grace that saves our souls (Ephesians 2:8) is also a transforming grace (Romans 6-8). If grace is allowed freedom in our lives, that grace will transform us into someone we would otherwise not be. Pascal says, “To make a man a saint, grace is absolutely necessary and whoever doubts it, does not know what a saint is or what a man is.”
The born again believer should be able to sing from experience, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” The difference is called transformation.
Pastor Clyde Turner had a youngster in Sunday School that was a holy terror. No one knew what to do with him. Finally, the boy stopped coming. Turner said, “I am ashamed to say it, but I think we were all glad of it.”
But one day the boy was back. He came running down the aisle with a fiddle under his arm. He said, “Pastor Turner, they gave me a fiddle for being good.”
Turner thought, “In the first place I could not imagine anyone giving him a fiddle; and in the second place, certainly not for being good.”
The boy said, “You see, pastor, I am gooder than I used to be.”
Turner said, “I watched him scamper down the hall and I thought, ‘Yes, by the grace of God a lot of us are ‘gooder’ than we used to be.’”
The Apostle Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” A much improved version!
I pray you can say the same thing about you: that the grace of God has changed you into someone better than you would otherwise be.
Tom Swartzwelder
Sep 4, 2024 – On September 3, 2024, Tom Swartzwelder completed the race that God had set before him. He is now with Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith.’
Hebrews 12:1-2A
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles
He provides practical how-to-do-ministry resources for the disciples of Jesus Christ at http://www.godsgreenhouse.net. Tom’s latest book is “God Speaks–Today!”
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