Can't Do It Ourselves

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." Titus 2:11

What would you think if you went to buy a car, and the salesperson told you that you either had to push it everywhere you went or pay extra for an engine? You'd know something was wrong because that's not how it works. The engine is part of the purchase price of the car.

When I look at Christians who are living defeated lives, I see people who are "pushing" their Christian lives. They don't realize that the power they need is already under the hood.

That power is the grace of God, which is the inexhaustible supply of goodness by which He does for us what we could never do for ourselves. Some of us have the misconception that we have the power to pull off the Christian life. But if that were true, we would be no different than a non-Christian who keeps the Ten Commandments. It's all human effort.

But God has endowed every true believer with an abundant supply of His grace. Grace is not well understood today because it's used so flippantly or without a proper understanding of what's involved in it.

That's ad, because there's a lot involved. The grace of God is possible because of the sacrifice His Son made for our salvation. The only reason we are alive today and not consumed is because of what Jesus did (Ephesians 2:8-9). The "appearance" of God's grace is the coming of Jesus Christ to earth to die for us and bring salvation.

Most of us have suffered the embarrassment of bouncing a check because of insufficient funds. But there is no such thing as insufficient grace. God's got some grace for every need you have. And Paul tells us in today's reading that God's grace also trains us in how to live the victorious Christian life.

Grace will give you victory where you didn't have victory. Grace will give you power where you didn't have power. Grace will give you the ability to keep on keeping on when you want to give up. Do you need more grace? God's go it (James 4:6).

By Tony Evans taken from "Time to Get Serious"

Bible Reading Guide:

Beginning to End: Proverbs 1-3
Old and New Testaments Together: Psalms 1-3 & Acts 18
Historical: Psalm 86-89
Chronological: 2 Chron 27 & Isaiah 9-12
Blended: Psalms 7-9 & Acts 10:1-23

The Bible reading guides will be taken from Back to the Bible