Yesterday, we looked at the first four levels of grace every believer experiences based on Timothy George's book, Amazing Grace. Today, we will look at the last four levels of grace:
Power: Most people do not so much lack the knowledge to live as they should as they do the ability to carry out what they already know is right. God's grace acts as an antidote to our impotence. It transforms, energizes, enables.
Hope: This is hope not in the loose sense of a vague general wish that may not come true, as in "hopefully it won't rain tomorrow." In Titus 2:11-13, Paul connects the grace of God with the "blessed hope" of Jesus' return in glory, a great motivation for confident Christian living.
Love: God's grace and love are so close that, at times, we cannot distinguish them. The Bible says that "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18), and God's gracious love counters the nagging fears and doubts all of us have.
Gratitude: The most basic response we can make to grace remains a life of thank-yous to God. As Lewis Smedes points out, true gratitude involves "a sense of wonder and sometimes elation at the lavish generosity of God.
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