Have you ever felt powerless?
“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
At times, we all fall captive to our circumstances, our environments, even our own thoughts and feelings.
But when everything feels overwhelming, we have to remember that God’s grace toward us is greater than anything we could face.
Jesus has already won the victory over every struggle in life; we simply need to claim it. And it is because of grace that we can take a hold of that victory.
No matter what situation life confronts us with, we can be confident in this: grace always wins.
What Is Grace
So first, what is grace?
A very succinct definition can be explained by a simple acronym:
God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense
In order to truly understand grace, we need to understand the gospel.
And the gospel is this: we are undeserving sinners, separated from God. Jesus, the Son of God and only perfect man, died to take the punishment for our sin.
And He rose from the grave so that we could have eternal life – the reward that He earned for us.
In other words, grace is a gift that we don’t deserve, but God has given it to us freely in love.
Ephesians 12:8-9 puts it this way: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Grace is the foundation of our salvation; and it has the power to overcome any opposing force.
Let’s take a look at just a few of the things that grace can conquer.
Grace Conquers Legalism
Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
What does it mean to be under the law?
From the day we are born, we all have a sense of right and wrong.
We are all born with the knowledge that we are sinners, and we spend our lives trying to do good deeds to earn favor with God.
But when we come to Jesus, He shows us that none of our good works count for anything.
We are made righteous only by our faith in Him – not that we deserve it, but that it is a gift of grace.
And so, we are set free from legalism – from constant anxiety over breaking the rules, afraid that any mistake might cut us off from God forever.
Instead, we can rest in the fact that Christ has accomplished it all for us.
Grace conquers our weaknesses
2 Corinthians 12:9 says,
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
The world tells us to be ashamed of our inadequacies.
In addition, we are often tempted to beat ourselves up for not being “good enough.”
This verse is a reminder that we should never hide away our flaws. Instead, we should use them as a testimony to what God has done in our lives.
When we look at our struggles, we should not feel ashamed of our weaknesses. We should look at our struggles and praise God for helping us to overcome them.
Whenever we feel insecure or unworthy, grace wins.
Grace conquers the world
1 John 5:4 says,
“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
It’s all too easy to turn on the news and be disheartened by all the tragedies and evil in our society.
But in the middle of all this darkness, there is a light.
We are the light, reflecting the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.
God’s grace is proof that broken people can be redeemed. It is proof that beauty can be made out of imperfection. This good news is stronger than any bad news we could ever hear.
Grace transcends hatred, apathy, racism, sexism, and every single thing that has ever been wrong with our world. Because of Jesus, we can have hope that is greater than anything this world could ever throw our way.
This life is an ongoing battle.
A battle between good and evil, between the flesh and the spirit, between the soul and the body.
And we feel the effects of this battle as we wrestle every single day with the consequences of sin.
But there is coming a day when the battle will end.
And we already know the outcome, for we are on the winning side: the side of God’s grace.
Every force of darkness will be slain, and we who trusted in Jesus in this life will be rewarded in the next.
When Jesus returns, the people who enter into His Kingdom will not be the busybodies or religious hypocrites who tried to earn their way into heaven.
The people He will welcome into eternal glory will be the flawed, but faithful people like us – sinners saved by grace.
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