11 Jul The Grace of God (Part 7): Electing Grace
God’s grace is among the most important truths in all of Christian belief. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that God’s grace is among the most dominant themes of Scripture from beginning to end. First Peter 5:10 speaks of “the God of all grace”; in the following days we will explore ways in which saving grace is experienced in the life of a Christian.
Electing Grace is God’s sovereign choice in eternity past to love some ill-deserving sinners and save them by His grace alone. Second Timothy 1:8–9 describes this as “the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”
Electing grace transforms the entire motive of spiritual living and everything from prayer to worship and charity to others. One of the wonderful benefits of electing grace is that unlike pagans and their various religions that seek to manipulate God through everything from good works to self-denial and praying mantras, we do not need to do anything to make God be or do good. Why? Because God is good and God delights in doing good, to the degree that He is gracious to us by His own initiative, loves us first, pursues us first, and cares for us first. This means that we do not pray, worship, or obey God so that He will love us, but, rather, because in grace He already has. Once we are saved, we have a good Father who does good for us.
Everyone deserves hell, no one deserves heaven. When people go to hell, that is justice. And, when people go to heaven, that is loving grace. Therefore, electing grace shows the love of God as God chooses to make His enemies His friends by grace.
An analogy might be helpful. In John 5, Jesus healed a man at a pool. And, He could have healed everyone but chose to only heal that man while passing over others. Likewise, God heals some people spiritually while not doing the same for others. The truth is that God could save everyone, just as He could have healed everyone when He was on the earth. Yet, because God is obligated to no one, the fact that He heals or saves anyone is a gracious, loving gift. Grace, including electing grace, is nothing we are entitled to receive and nothing that God is entitled to give. Once we embrace our sinfulness, get over any sense of entitlement, and then consider that God chose to lovingly save us by pure grace, we are most likely to truly appreciate the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Looking back, how did God draw you to Himself and change your heart?
