The Chief Evidence of Grace is Love

The Ultimate Freedom is the Freedom to Love God and others.

LOVE = “Acting in the best interest of OTHERS”!  (1 Cor 13) 

LOVE is always First about OTHERS! No more performance based living with the focus always on me, now we are free to productive, fruit-producing, grace-filled living. (Galatians 5:1-26)

How can that BE? In a world that revolves around ME, how can others come first? Because God has taken care of me. I am His son. I am loved. (See Galatians 3:26-4:7) SO now that is done and settled, I am free to love YOU! Concentrate on You!  

SO The chief evidence that The Gospel is operative in us is that we are LOVING. The profound truth is that THE Fruit of the Spirit is relational and moral. The Spirit’s fullness is marked by healthy growing relationships with God and others!! The Christian focus should NOT be about supernatural Gifts!! Watch and see if when the focus is on the Gifts, then it is still not just about ME?!! The Gifts are giving so that OTHERS might be Built up! Warning: This should not lead us to diminish the gifts!! We must understand they are given to us to build up OTHERS!! If they are not being used to build up others in love, then we can determine they are not gifts from God through the work of His Spirit!! This is the truth! J

AND Watch this: Although the main evidence of being filled with the Spirit might not be in supernatural gifts, it does not diminish how powerful and miraculous is the Spirits power! This is evidenced in the fact that we can put a man on the moon, but we cannot get along with our neighbor!! :-)  We need God’s enabling to love one another!! The Spirit Enables Us to Produce the Fruit of love which issues into a changed life and healthy relationships. It is not law on the outside, but LOVE on the inside that makes the difference. We need an enabling power within, that changes our focus from me to others! This is the powerful work of God! J ONLY God can shift the focus from me to others! That’s what Grace Does!

Now grace filled, we are free to love and serve others! No more conceit and vain glory. No more comparing and competing for worth and value. No more deceiving no one but ourselves. (Gal 5:25-6:5) Now free to love and carry others burdens, restoring others in Love.

You be the judge on your activities and efforts, especially religious activities. What "fruit" is being produced in your life? Rules and regulations or love? Comparing and competing or serving and caring for others?

The chief Evidence of Grace is love...

Growing in Grace

Growing in Grace…

This is really BIG! I am growing to understand why an in-depth study of Galatians lead to the reformation by Martin Luther. Please study and meditate on this letter with me. This week consider the “grace-filled” life. Galatians is about the Gospel. And we never grow beyond the Gospel; we just grow growing deeper into IT! (Gal. 3:1-14) Are you going to live by Grace or not?! Paul asked, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal 3:3 NIV) 

“Christians think that we are saved by the Gospel but then we grow by applying biblical principles to every other area of life. But we are not just saved by the gospel, we grow by applying the gospel to every area of our life.” Dick Kaufman

     The grace-filled life is accepting that “we are no longer slaves but Sons!” (Gal 4:7) We are Heirs not mere guests!! This is not a prison! There are no inmates here! It is amazing to consider that when Jesus began to preach He proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me… He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners!” (Luke 4:18) We are all sons and heirs to God through Christ! There is no difference! Paul declares, “you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ”.  (Gal 3:26) We all come to God and receive life through Grace by trusting in what God did through giving His SON. It is His Gift to all who believe in Him!!   We do not perform to be accepted. We are accepted because God justifies.

Don’t be like the Elder Son and miss the party! When the prodigal son comes home and the Father throws the party the “older brother became angry and refused to go in”. (Luke 15:28) WHY? If we trust in our own merits or efforts we will be angry when “Grace” shows up. The older son cries out, “All these years I have slaved for you… and you never gave me…” (Luke 15:29) Was the elder son trusting in his efforts to save him and give him worth? NOTE and never forget the Fathers response, “My Son…everything I have is yours! But we had to celebrate because this brother of yours was dead and now is alive again!”

Paul helps us see that “the Gospel shows us that it is the strong, moral, religious, self-righteous person who in the end, are really the slaves”. (Tim Keller  - Galatians for You)

Now that we are truly free and growing in Grace, we discover the freedom to let others BE free… to grow in Grace… AND join the party! I for one don’t want to miss this party any longer. We have to celebrate - Our brother who was dead and now he is alive again! Grace-full… and growing.