Joh 1:14-16 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. … (16) Out of his fullness we have all received GRACE IN PLACE OF GRACE ALREADY GIVEN.”
You cannot be a true Christian / follower of Jesus, without committing 100% to God’s economy of grace. Grace…God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense…God doing to, for, in, through, with us – in our identification and union with Christ – what we can’t do on our own.
We can pretend to do it on our own with our best religious, humanist, rational efforts. But the highest human nobel-prize-grammy-award-revolutionary-hero offerings are, by God’s standard, a false veneer that won’t stand His fiery test of truth and holiness. A grace-transformed-life and no other will make it through the flames.
And what sort of grace is this?
It’s abundant. It’s “grace upon grace.” It’s not corner-café-grace, where you had better check the sell-by date because the stock is quite likely stale. It’s Woolworth’s grace, where what is still fresh and edible is replaced before it’s had a chance to get old. It’s Jewish mother have-another-ladle-of chicken-soup-before-you’ve-had-a-chance-to-finish-what’s-in-your-bowl grace.
Abundant, inexhaustibly flowing Grace upon Grace, given in Christ.
