We who have received this wonderful and beautiful truth of the grace of God have had many oppose us. Today I want to share some insight to help us overcome when we face persecution or slander.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:7
Love endures and never quits. Love never loses faith and hope in God's goodness. When we love as He loves we never lose.
I want to caution against a mindset that can creep in when we are found to be opposed by religious leaders and some well meaning believers. A sense of isolation or ostracizing comes to us. We feel like those still under the delusion of Law and self efforts or performance based faith are our enemies. We feel like we can't even fellowship with them.
I have been feeling this for a season myself. I see the books they write against us "hyper grace" preachers. I see the articles that they write. I see the fearful rush to the extremes of pushing the Old Covenant Law back upon the Church. I see other well meaning ones try to "balance" grace with performance.
I had been experiencing the desire to draw back from church life and fellowship with believers who hadn't received the message of grace. Then Jesus showed up to me in a time of worship the other day. This is what He spoke to my heart.
"Just because those who have rejected grace have counted you as their enemy, doesn't mean you have to make them YOUR enemy."
With that little nudge of truth from the Father's heart I saw His heart for ALL the Church, all of the Body of Christ. I repented (change of mind, remember the Bible definition not religion's), right then. I just saw these others weren't my enemies. These other believers just hadn't yet received this wonderful message. What a great way to win more by showing just how gracious grace is.
2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Ephesians 5:2
Allow this truth to take root within. Let us love those who oppose us and malign us. Lets show how gracious grace is. We can live a life of love toward those against us. You may not feel like it after reading their claims against us. The Word gives us the key to loving people.
10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 1 John 4:10-11
Remember grace supplies. We love because He loves us. His love is deposited within us so we now have a graceful supply of that love to extend to others. We can love those who write their books and blogs and articles against us.
When I saw these same folk with the lens of God's love I really feel pity for them. My heart goes out to them. Imagine a hard life where salvation is only started by God and left up to us to finish it. If one has all these rules and performance pressure upon them, no wonder they lash out at others.
We can pray for them and bless them with our words and deeds. I believe this mindset will win more to the message of God's grace and love. We are channels and carriers of His grace and love.
I trust this message has blessed and encouraged you today. Remind yourself of the supply of grace. We have His love supplied to us. We can overcome the opposition by His love. Rest in His love this week and always. Share it with others it is contagious!
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