EVERYDAY GRACE TO LIVE

By Paul white

Today is a bonus day on our calendars, added every four years as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. Mankind learned this through reading and tracking the stars and the speed of the earth’s revolution around the sun. Thus, today is a man-made application to allow one day to correct 365 other days.

God had a correction plan of His own. At Calvary, the Son of God became the sacrifice for the human race, placing the sins of mankind into His body and taking the brunt of God’s anger against sin. The cross marked the justice system of heaven, and allowed the grace of God to flow freely into the world, uninhibited by a sin debt, for that debt had been paid. Now, due to the cross and the resurrection, we are able to tap into the favor of heaven by placing our faith in the finished work of Christ’s cross, and this gives us access to God’s grace in several ways.

My background in religion taught that God’s grace was available to everyone through salvation. After that, I knew very little about the grace of God. We believed that grace saved you, but then you had better go to work to “stay saved.” I call this form of grace, GRACE TO GET SAVED. Ephesians 2:8 bears this out by saying, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

There is another school of thought regarding grace that teaches that not only is there grace to get saved, but that no matter what happens after that, there is also GRACE TO STAY SAVED. I used to preach against this idea (remember, my religious paradigm only had room for one kind of grace!), but have since come to realize that if this type of grace was not available, then my salvation would have no eternal assurance, for my actions would interfere. Paul said of our salvation and our Jesus: “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)

Much of the church world falls in line with one of the above mentioned versions of grace, and many would agree with both. However, there are millions of believers that would then say, “I’m missing something regarding God’s grace.” I know, because many have said that to me. What are we missing?

I believe the answer to what we lack is an understanding of what I term GRACE TO LIVE or EVERYDAY GRACE. This is the kind of grace that teaches you how to live, guiding you into paths of righteousness, free from the influence of the law (Titus 2:11, 12). This is grace that causes you to grow in your relationship with the Lord, and in your knowledge of who He is (2 Peter 1:2). This is also the grace that motivates our service and our stewardship. It doesn’t drive; it leads. This grace permeates us and causes us to drop the hammer of judgment, and throw wide the doors of acceptance, laying a garment of “manifold grace” over the shoulders of the world (1 Peter 4:10).
You have an extra day; use it wisely. Revel in God’s love for you and recognize the grace He has provided to live this day to its fullest. Anything less than resting in God’s marvelous grace is an insult to the finished work. Let’s use everyday grace to live!