The Power of Grace
Every grace is an opportunity to pass on a blessing.
God’s grace, once perceived, results in an outflow of gratitude. God is at work first. We respond by extending his love to others second.
Are we saved by faith or grace?
If the two are connected to each other then I would say Yes. If they are not, then I would say we are saved by grace.
By Grace Through Faith
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
When I am having a bad day. When it looks to me like others have it better than I do or that my burdens are just too much to bear, I start counting my blessings. I begin reminding myself what I have to be grateful for. I think of loved ones. I think of wonderful times in the past. I think about all the blessings I have never earned or deserved. I think about how God’s grace overflows my cup.
Then I thank God for all those that I have been jealous toward and I thank Him that he has blessed them as is his nature. And then I ask that he continues to bless them, especially those I find difficult. All of this centers me into remembering that it is better to live one day in his house than a thousand elsewhere.