My Definition of Fun

5 things I do for fun:

Smile: I don’t wait until I’m having fun to smile. Smiling itself is fun. Consume hope: I search for and devour positive, hope-filled media.Absorb nature: I stroll and ponder its beauty, inspiration, and glory. Be kind: I interact heart-to-heart with people as I show them kindness.Surrender to God’s grace: I walk and talk with the risen Jesus through the grace that he purchased for me by His blood.

Grace gives
All the glory,
All the credit,
All the merit,
For ever and ever
To Jesus!

Grace is released according to God’s power “that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20) It is unmerited access to a personal relationship of ongoing alignment with God through the risen Jesus.

Grace isn’t a one-time transactional prayer that’s prayed to God so that we can be excused for our behaviors and protected from their consequences. It’s not a powerless “form of godliness.” (2 Timothy 3:5) It freely empowers us to live by God’s will instead of by our own will.

The grace of God
Doesn’t justify
Or defend our sin.
It changes us
From deep within!

Trying to justify and defend our sin “falls short of the grace of God.” (Hebrews 12:15) Anyone who thinks that he deserves God’s grace doesn’t understand it. The kingdom of God is no meritocracy. Only one human has ever deserved access to God the Father–that is Jesus the God-man.

To live in God’s grace, we have to let go of our self-righteous pride and deceptive belief that we deserve God’s favor, so that we can humbly admit the truth that we are completely undeserving of His grace. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

Grace and truth go together. “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Let the grace and truth purchased by the blood of Jesus continually overflow from deep within you. (Colossians 1:6)

We humans need “the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness” (not a little dab) so that we can reign in life (not just in Heaven) through radical surrender and total submission to the presence, authority, and will of Jesus Christ living in and through us. (Romans 5:17) “For if by the trespass of the one (Adam), death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.”

Grace and sin don’t mix! “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2) Grace requires for a person “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” (Romans 12:3)

Grace produces work! “But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Be aligned with Christ, not alienated from Him! “You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)

Grace is given by the working of God’s power. Let His power freely and continually work within you to keep you charged with His presence and make you into a servant. “I was made a servant, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.” (Ephesians 3:7)