KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Grace 2
FAR BE IT from me to speak a word against the grace of God...
Amazing grace -- how sweet the sound --
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found --
Was blind, but now I see. (John Newton)
Eternity will not be long enough to speak of the wonderful grace of God. But a grace which eliminates the "can do" or "must do" of persons is not something I find in my Bible. No less an authority than God's Son said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" ( Luke 9:23). Self-denial is something I must do. Taking up the cross is something I must do. Following Jesus is something I must do. To expect "grace to cover all my sins" without self-denial, cross-bearing, or following Jesus is to expect the impossible.
We are followers of the Crucified, and His crucifixion must have it's counterpart in our lives. This involves the Cross once-for-all, and the Cross "daily." C.F.D. Moule refers to this as an "inexhaustible paradox; on one side, a true and total self-denial, on the other, a daily need of self-crucifixion."
Salvation is by grace! But it is not the easy, cheap thing that so many have made it out to be. And it certainly doesn't eliminate responsibility on my part. God's grace gave the Cross; my faith responds to it.
It is wonderful to be rocked in the cradle of grace and sing about the love of God, but there is more. The Cross is constantly calling us to sacrifice and suffering and a bleeding ministry. (John Gipson)
KneEmail: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God -- not because of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9).