new church life: november/december 2015
it is a gift to us that makes it possible
for us to be saved and enter heaven. It
is the reception of the Lord’s grace that
makes spiritual things possible in our
lives. As we receive the affection for
truth, so we learn truth, come to see
it as true, and find ways of applying it.
The greatest gratitude we can show the
Lord for His grace is a life according to
His Word.
The results of this may be states
of conflict and temptation as we face
our hereditary evils, when we have to
repent from things we have done, or not done, and begin a new life. In these
times the Lord’s grace may not seem so wonderful to us. There may be times
when we are not as receptive as we should be, when we backslide and fall into
our old evil ways. Yet the Lord’s grace is always there and should we receive
it in gratitude it will give strength, as it gave courage and strength to many
people in the Word.
When Gabriel told Mary she had found favor or grace and that the Lord
was with her, she was willing to accept the commission before her. She could
bear the child who became the Savior of the human race.
In one sense, Mary was singled out of all humanity to do this, but in
another sense, we all receive grace from the Lord and the commission to bring
our lives into harmony with His, and as this happens, we receive the blessings
He wants to give us.
As we think about grace, especially during the Christmas season, it helps
to fill the word “grace” or “favor” with some of the root meanings from Hebrew,
Greek and Latin, and reflect on how the Lord has stooped down to our level,
and worked the kindness of inspiring us from within to learn His truth.
Most simply put,
gratitude is the
reception of grace and
the recognition that it is
a gift to us that makes
it possible for us to be
saved and enter heaven.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
The Rev. Dr. Andrew M. T. Dibb is Dean of the Bryn Athyn
College Theological School. He has served as assistant to the
pastor of the Carmel New Church in Kitchener, Ontario,
Canada, as pastor of the Transvaal Society and the New Church
Buccleuch in his native South Africa, and as Dean of the South
African Theological School. He and his wife, Cara (Glenn), live
in Abington, Pennsylvania.
Contact: [email protected]
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