The Grace Of God With Us

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.  1 Corinthians 15:1-10 NASB

Wow my friends! God doesn't retaliate or become angry when we try to test Him, He doesn't attack us or abandon us. When we honestly approach the Lord we can know that we are prized and accepted in spite of past indiscretions. 

Without hesitation Jesus responds to our plea for mercy: “truly today you will be with Me”. 

It is never too late to repent and ask the Lord to accept us. He gives us the choice! We can learn from one of the two who were crucified next to Jesus. Jesus cleansed the repentant man from his sins, received him graciously, and justified him unconditionally. He conferred upon a sinner the gift of eternal life.

Many have approached the word of God with doubts and contempt. The Bible is under constant attack from those who would seek to 'prove' that it is wrong, or that it contains false teachings, just as the thief hanging beside Jesus, with the same level of skepticism, challenged Jesus to 'prove' that He was the Son of God by bringing Himself down from the cross. 

Holy Spirit can subdue our doubts and sooth our pain. When we come to Him without excuse and offer our heart and soul to Him, we can experience the awesome love and grace of the Lord.  Amazing grace! 

Jesus never strayed from His unconditional love and acceptance towards people. His death is a testimony that salvation is a reality for all of us when we voice our faith in Him. Jesus gave us a lesson in forgiveness while He hung there upon the cross suffering for us, dying for us.

And so, know this. God has always loved us, and still does. He accepts us under the grace of Jesus Christ.

We can trust God’s Word as truth because when we have spent time with Him we realize He is trustworthy. In that time we spend, we find unconditional everlasting Love — Jesus Himself — and that love leads us to freedom. My friends it starts with an active choice to trust what God’s Word says.  I can’t express this enough. Read the Bible.