A tool that I have found very useful in my personal Bible study is paraphrasing...taking a Scripture, or section of Scripture, reading it, praying over it, and then writing it in my words so that it really speaks to me. When I do that with this verse, this is what I get...
"I am saved..by God's grace...only...my faith in God brings His grace to me. There is nothing in me that earns this grace, it is God's free gift to me, extended out of His love, when I respond to Him in faith."
My paraphrase may not be your paraphrase. What do you write down when you prayerfully ponder this verse? Let it speak to you, let His Spirit guide your thoughts as you meditate on this wondrous verse of grace.
Since we are on the topic of faith, we need to look at faith's role in this verse. It is our faith in God that brings His grace to us. All we have to do is respond to His Spirit's prompts to our heart with the slightest amount of faith, and His hand of grace is ready to move in our lives.
Just this week in our women's Bible study we talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. It's a parable that has always somewhat bothered me, because it just doesn't seem fair...and I know God is fair. But when I started reading different commentaries, the view that made the most sense to me was that the talents represent the degree of faith we are given and what we do with it. I believe everyone is given an opportunity to believe just by observing nature and the wonder of it (Romans 1), maybe that's the single talent, but obviously some are given a greater degree...those of us who were given the opportunity to be raised by Christian parents, having prayers of Christian grandparents said over us...that's a great advantage, probably a five talent gift of faith! Now, what do we do with what we are given? At any level, our faith is to be multiplied. We are never to fear, we are always to act. I think Jesus is looking for believers ready to risk it all for him, to go out on a limb, to chance it. We are to have reckless faith! When we do that, I think Jesus multiplies our faith, showing us more and more just how much He can be trusted.
I also think that the more our faith grows, the deeper we understand God's grace. We have faith that He is the One who has done everything necessary to bring us to Him. We have faith that there is nothing we can do, and nothing that we can miss doing, that will cause Him to turn away from us...as long as we have a mustard seed amount of faith. As long as we have faith that it is He who saves us, it is He who loves us, it is He who will bring us through the valley of the shadow of death...then His grace abounds for us. His grace bridges the gap between our sinfulness and His holiness.
I guess my very simplest of paraphrases of this complex verse would be, "Believe God can save you, and He will---no payment required."
It's His gift...it's sitting on your porch, wrapped with your name on the card. Faith opens the door.
"I am saved..by God's grace...only...my faith in God brings His grace to me. There is nothing in me that earns this grace, it is God's free gift to me, extended out of His love, when I respond to Him in faith."
My paraphrase may not be your paraphrase. What do you write down when you prayerfully ponder this verse? Let it speak to you, let His Spirit guide your thoughts as you meditate on this wondrous verse of grace.
Since we are on the topic of faith, we need to look at faith's role in this verse. It is our faith in God that brings His grace to us. All we have to do is respond to His Spirit's prompts to our heart with the slightest amount of faith, and His hand of grace is ready to move in our lives.
Just this week in our women's Bible study we talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. It's a parable that has always somewhat bothered me, because it just doesn't seem fair...and I know God is fair. But when I started reading different commentaries, the view that made the most sense to me was that the talents represent the degree of faith we are given and what we do with it. I believe everyone is given an opportunity to believe just by observing nature and the wonder of it (Romans 1), maybe that's the single talent, but obviously some are given a greater degree...those of us who were given the opportunity to be raised by Christian parents, having prayers of Christian grandparents said over us...that's a great advantage, probably a five talent gift of faith! Now, what do we do with what we are given? At any level, our faith is to be multiplied. We are never to fear, we are always to act. I think Jesus is looking for believers ready to risk it all for him, to go out on a limb, to chance it. We are to have reckless faith! When we do that, I think Jesus multiplies our faith, showing us more and more just how much He can be trusted.
I also think that the more our faith grows, the deeper we understand God's grace. We have faith that He is the One who has done everything necessary to bring us to Him. We have faith that there is nothing we can do, and nothing that we can miss doing, that will cause Him to turn away from us...as long as we have a mustard seed amount of faith. As long as we have faith that it is He who saves us, it is He who loves us, it is He who will bring us through the valley of the shadow of death...then His grace abounds for us. His grace bridges the gap between our sinfulness and His holiness.
I guess my very simplest of paraphrases of this complex verse would be, "Believe God can save you, and He will---no payment required."
It's His gift...it's sitting on your porch, wrapped with your name on the card. Faith opens the door.
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