The Awesome Power of Bold Grace!
Recently some one ask me what purpose does Bold Grace have? I wrote the following post a couple of years ago and I think it answers that question best, so here it is.
Bold grace has a purpose, a magnificent purpose that we can be excited about. Bold grace is not just for the forgiveness of sins, or for letting us humans have a pass while we live this life. Bold grace comes from our perfect God through the life of His son Jesus Christ and its power is far reaching. Paul the apostle enlightens us on what is the purpose of this bold grace of God.
Titus 2:11-1511 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
- First of all Paul tells us in verse 11 that this bold grace has appeared to ALL men. That means undeserved favor has appeared to all men. It does not appear to men or women who deserve it because there aren’t any.
- Secondly, he clearly shows us that this bold grace has some very specific purposes for all of our lives. It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Teaching us to live soberly, righteously, and godly, and he is clearly talking about our earthly lives (this present world). Now the very obvious thing about this bold grace is that it is given to us before hand in order that we can have all these wonderful goals. Without the knowledge of being loved unconditionally (even though we don’t deserve it) we could never move toward what grace teaches us.
- Third, in verses 13 & 14 we also see the clear description of what Bold Grace really is. Christ giving himself FOR US! Not a few of US, or some of US, or just those of US who deserve it, but for ALL OF US! And just what is HIS goal for us? To purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Now for me, I am convinced that He accomplishes this in every single life. You might say: "Well Cliff, I just don’t see that in a lot of people that I know." What you are forgetting is that we are human and very limited in our understanding of God. Every day that I allow this bold grace to teach me I am more and more in awe of our PERFECT GOD. To deny the power of grace, is to limit our Perfect God to our thinking. God’s thoughts are not my thoughts, and His ways are past finding out.
Paul describes our creator as the GREAT GOD and OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. Ask yourself, how great is your God? The God I see preached in most of our churches is powerless, with more power to send people to HELL then to HEAVEN.
Cliff thank God for bringing the website Bold Grace to open many peoples eyes to this wonderful gospel of love and grace.
The time that it has been on the internet it has blessing to many peoples hearts and minds and I believe that many more are going to see the truth threw Bold Grace in the time to come.
Love Dan
Dan…..You are always such a great encourager. My only goal for all the writing we do is the hope that every human being who visits here will at least entertain the idea that they are truly loved without any conditions by the one who made them. That is where we start to find true peace.
How are we supposed to define: “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world…”, if the law that laid out precisely what was godly/righteous & what was not, has been abolished?
Verses like these do not give me encouragement. In fact, a lot of what Paul & the other NT writers wrote don’t encourage me; they make me feel inadequate & condemned, to be completely honest. Sure, we can argue that if a verse here & there condemns us, we’re just not looking at it right; but, you’ve got to admit there is a lot in the NT that does not give you a “Everybody is OK in God’s eyes” perspective.
Jason
Jason, This is exactly why those who read the words of Paul with the law ingrained in their minds will never understand what he is saying. Think about it…..it is grace not law that can lead us in the right pathways of this life.
Grace is undeserved favor and that means that God’s love for us will never be based on how well we perform. That doesn’t mean he wishes for us to choose poorly. The best example I can give is my own children. Nancy & I raised four beautiful human beings. At every step of the way in their raising we told them that regardless of the choices they made we would never stop loving them or accepting them. They all made some great choices and they made some real dumb choices and all four turned out wonderful in our eyes.
God’s absolute unconditional love for us is the power that allows us to move from one degree of glory to the next and eventually we will all see his glory in its fullest.
Jason: In fact, a lot of what Paul & the other NT writers wrote don’t encourage me; they make me feel inadequate & condemned, to be completely honest. Sure, we can argue that if a verse here & there condemns us, we’re just not looking at it right; but, you’ve got to admit there is a lot in the NT that does not give you a “Everybody is OK in God’s eyes” perspective.
I’ve found that after a lot of those passages that read like condemnation, there’s usually a verse or two that says something to the effect of, “This is how you once were; but thankfully–through God’s grace–this is not the case now.”, or there’s instruction/direction on what is “good” (if you will) to God (sort of a “first, here’s how you were/are, or what not to be like”, followed by “and now here is your remedy, or what to be like”).