“For if because of one man’s mistake, death reigned over all; much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.” – Romans 5:17
Today’s Devotional Is LIFE ABUNDANT: GRACE ABOUNDING
Notice the word “receive”! First, we receive forgiveness and reconciliation, and then we receive abundance of grace. We cannot earn or merit either of them. All we have to do is to accept and appropriate what God offers us. If people are lost, it is because they refuse to accept the grace and love of God that has been secured for us through the second Adam, in spite of our failures and sins. We must believe that we have received, even when we are not conscious of any new experience. It is a blessed thing when we feel low and out of sorts, to receive, to inbreathe, to drink in the abundance of grace, and to know that God is working in us in power.
There is no limit to God’s abundant supply. The Apostle keeps using the word “abundance,” which really means “running over.” And the result of receiving more and more out of God’s fullness is that we reign in life, not just in the future life, but in this present life. Our life becomes royal, regnant, and triumphant.
This glorious life in which we are daily victorious over sin, daily using and scattering the unsearchable riches of Christ, daily helping others up to the throne-life, is within reach of every reader of these words. God wants you to enter upon it; He has made every provision for it and is at this moment urging you to enter upon it. All you need to do is to receive the abundance of His grace and the gift of righteousness. Open your heart and life, and God will fill it. Dare to believe that He has filled it, even though you don’t feel it, and go forth to live a royal life, distributing the largess of His royal bounty!
But we must pour out as God pours in! Only then will God be able to trust us with His fullness. Our love for others, our willingness to help them, our forgivingness, and patience must go to the point of self-exhaustion if we want to know the abundant life and the grace that flows over.
PRAYER For Today
Father, we thank you for souls redeemed and sins forgiven, for means of grace and hopes of heaven. What can we give you in return for all that you have given us? Help us to pour out our love, forgiveness, and patience to others, as you pour out your grace on us. Amen.