The Life that I Now Live
(Gal 2:20-21)
God is the Lord of grace (Neh 9:31).
Grace comes from Him (Jn 1:14), and
To those who know His grace He infinitely gives.
Faith is knowing Him and being moved by Him, and
The life of this faith is paying back for grace until one can go before the throne of grace.
Grace refers to the gift that is costless and priceless.
Not because it is worthless
But because it is so worthy, so costly that
There is no way for the receiver to pay back,
The giver gives freely.
Despite the fact that he had the privilege of having all in the Garden,
Adam was ungrateful and sinned, deceived by the devil.
Consequently, he was banished from the Garden (Ge 3:5, Ge 3:23).
The people of Israel were chosen to know grace (Ge 18:3).
Countless lambs died in place of their firstborns and the pharaoh surrendered (Ex 12:1-13),
Because of which they were able to escape 430 years of slavery in Egypt.
God commanded them to remember this for generations -- that is, the Passover.
Furthermore, God commanded them to build the sanctuary in the desert (Ex 25:7), and
Had the high priest enter there to make atonement (He 9:7)
With the blood of animals once every year for
It was a grace period made by the blood of one-year old animals (He 10:1-4).
Jesus said, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days (Jn 2:19), because
Through the death and the resurrection of the temple of His body,
He would give grace to all men, for
He is the incarnate Word, grace after another grace (Jn 1:1, Jn 1:14, Jn 1:16) who was
With the Father in the beginning,
Sent as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29).
As He died, Jesus said, "It is finished (Jn 19:30), declaring that He:
- Laid down His life according to the Father's command (Jn 10:17-18);
- Condemned the devil, the origin of sin (Ge 3:4-5); and
- With His eternal blood gave an eternal sacrifice, obtaining an eternal redemption once for all (He 9:12, He 10:12).
He rose and
Ascended to the throne of grace in heaven.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace (He 10:29),
Came in the name Y'shua to those who
Believe that their souls that were once dead in sin and transgression (Eph 2:1)
Died with Christ on the cross (Rm 6:6).
And He lets them know the things they freely received (1Co 2:12).
The true Christian is he who
Received grace and knows that he is indebted.
Therefore, the life that he now lives (Gal 2:20-21) is:
To praise the glory of grace (Eph 1:6);
To preach the gospel of grace (Ac 20:24);
To daily go before the throne of grace and seek help (He 4:16); and
To pour his treasure on the body of the Lord of grace, the church.
For he knows that he has nothing of his own, because of which
He puts every effort for the Lord to easily use every part of him, for
When the Lord Jesus returns he hopes to boldly go before His throne.
While the cross is the site of the grace of Jesus where He unilaterally poured it out to all,
The throne is the last gift for those who did not forget His grace and paid it back (Rev 3:21).
O Lord,
The life that I now live is the chance I have to pay back for Your grace, so
Rather than trying to gain one more from You,
Let me try given up one more because of You.
Amen.