For Reading and Meditation:
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Is it any wonder that throughout the history of the Christian Church men and women have found the thought of grace so overwhelmingly wonderful they seemed unable to get over it? Grace was the constant theme of their prayers, their preaching, their writing - and their hymns. Take this for example: Great God of wonders, all Thy ways Display the attributes divine; But countless acts of pardoning grace Beyond Thine other wonders shine; Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free? Many have fought to uphold the truth of God's grace, accepting ridicule and loss of privilege as the price of their stand. Paul waged war against the legalists in the Galatian churches over the matter of "grace," and the battle to uphold this great truth has gone on ever since. Augustine fought it in the fourth and fifth centuries, and so did the Reformers in the sixteenth century. I sense that the Church once again is in danger of losing out to legalism as more and more Christians get caught up with doing rather than being. Talk to people about what they are doing and they are with you at once; talk to them about being (who they really are) and their attitude is one of deferential blankness. The Church of Jesus Christ is in a sad state when it can't say with conviction and meaning, as did the apostle Paul: "By the grace of God I am what I am."
"God of all grace, give me grace to feel my need of grace. And give me grace to ask for grace. Then give me grace to receive grace. And when grace is given to me, give me grace to use that grace." In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.