Timothy George in his book, Amazing Grace, talks about experiencing grace in different levels in our lives. We experience grace as pardon, acceptance, joy, peace, power, hope, love, and gratitude. Today we will look at the first four levels of grace George talks about:
Pardon: God's forgiveness and justification remove our guilty standing before him-our real guilt, not just our guilty feelings.
Acceptance: In Christ we who were distant from God, covered with shame, have been embraced, welcomed, and accepted-not because we are acceptable, but solely because we are loved.
Joy: This delivers us from the frantic quest to be "happy" through stuffing our lives with fleeting pleasures and "joyrides" that only leave us sadder, more depressed. Real joy comes from knowing God and serving him.
Peace: God's shalom answers the anxieties and insecurities that threaten us from every side. The standard New Testament greeting is "grace and peace." Grace and peace are twins; they belong together, related as cause and effect.
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