#undergrace

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” - Galatians 4:4-5

It’s Advent, and during Advent, we are reminded of what happened thousands of years ago. We are reminded about how our Savior came into the world and saved us from our sins. Yet, most of the time, we get so caught up with the celebration. We are focused on celebrating the celebration that we forgot who we are celebrating or the reason for the season. We must understand that Christ is the reason for the season. He is the reason, and there’s no other reason. 

So, our verse today is a reminder that He is indeed our reason for the season. During the perfect time, God indeed sent His Son for us. We need to understand that our salvation was all under the plans of God. The moment we sin and fall short, God has already planned our salvation. He already thought of the plan to save that through the sacrifice of His Son, we will then be cleansed and forgiven. So, the Lord Jesus Christ has to be born under the law, brought up to this dirty and cruel world, and then die for us who are also under the law so that we will be put under grace. 

Now, we must understand that it is not just merely a celebration, but it is our great salvation. Jesus Christ’s coming to the world indeed needs to be celebrated because it was the moment we were given a chance to be redeemed. However, let us not fool ourselves and hide behind the ornaments. We are sinful, and we will remain sinful, but praise be to God for He saved us and He wants us to be in Him. He doesn’t want us to suffer, He wants to save us, but the truth remains, we need Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

Therefore, let us always remember that Christ was born under the law to save us who are under law to put us under grace and so that we will be adopted to sonship. We will become the co-heirs of Christ. We are now part of the family of God. We were adopted into His family through Christ. Now, the reason for the season is Christ and our celebration of the salvation we will receive through Him. He came to the world as an innocent child, and He died without sin to carry our sins. Thus, we must never forget all of these and be reminded that Jesus is the reason for the season.

For more daily reflection, verse, and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

Website: https://youngdisciples.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yd153

Twitter: @YD153

Instagram: @youngdisciples2020

It is indeed by grace of God that we conquered sin, and that grace is not achievable but receivable.

For more daily reflection, verse, and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

Website: https://youngdisciples.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yd153

Twitter: @YD153

Instagram: @youngdisciples2020

So, indeed that grace is not based on works but on grace alone.

For more daily reflection, verse, and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

Website: https://youngdisciples.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yd153

Twitter: @YD153

Instagram: @youngdisciples2020

It is not new to us that we are not under the law, but already under grace. We are somewhat brought into a mindset that the grace of God is the unlimited forgiveness that whatever we will do, we are forgiven even if we are doing it deliberately. However, we must understand that yes, we are forgiven and we are saved. Christ died for us, He died for our sins and He died unto sins. Meaning, He did not just die for us, but He really died unto sin, so that we will not be under the captivity of sin and death. 

One thing we have to always remember, Christ’s death was not only for us to be saved, but to really completely take away from the dominion of sin and death. If Christ did not take us away from the dominion of these, we are always going to go back and we will not just be put under grace but we will remain under the law. However, since Christ has died unto sin too, He has defeated sin and death. Through His death and His resurrection, these enemies have no hold on us. We are saved, and not just saved, we are pardoned and freed.

Now, let us put our minds on the right track and believe in our hearts that indeed God has given us so much. His grace is even enough to last us for a lifetime and He is a promise keeper. He put us under grace instead of putting us under the law. The perfect way to show His love towards us is through His grace and He indeed never falls short. So, Paul wanted us to know and to remind us that indeed we are under grace now and under law. When we were under the law, we have been sinful, we have been unfaithful and disobedient because we thought that we can redeem ourselves through our good deeds. 

Praise God that we are now under grace because we can never do anything well. What we always do is crazy and evil. We thought that we are doing good, but we are really not. So, let us praise God for our salvation is not based on our human knowledge and capability but it is merely based on the grace of God. Thus, we must always take this by heart and understand that it doesn’t mean that we are under grace, we have the license to sin. We are under grace so that we will have the strength to obey God and to resist evil. 

Therefore, may we always remember that being under grace should not mean unlimited forgiveness despite our deliberate disobedience but being under grace should mean submitting ourselves to God and only desiring to do what glorifies God. We should live our lives in a response to the grace that God has given to us. Indeed just like Paul, let us declare with our mouth and hearts that we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live but it is Him who lives in us.

For more daily reflection, verse, and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

Website: https://youngdisciples.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yd153

Twitter: @YD153

Instagram: @youngdisciples2020

His grace is free and we are undeserving of it.

For more daily reflection, verse and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

Website: https://youngdisciples.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yd153

Twitter: @YD153

Instagram: @youngdisciples2020

Have you tried going to a pawnshop? Have you tried giving something you own to a person and promised to take it back someday? How does it feel when something so important and something so close to you is in the hands of other people? Won’t you try to redeem it? Or what if you can’t? What would you feel?

In some cases, Christ’s teaching and salvation can really become so personalized and we can really easily relate. Just like the example of pawning an item to a pawnshop or to a friend. It doesn’t mean that you pawned it, you liked what you did. It is just like us but the difference is, God did not pawn us but we pawned ourselves even if we are not ours to pawn. We pawned or sold ourselves to sin even if God clearly told us not to. 

For our verse today, we can see the message of Jesus Christ through Paul telling us that sin is not our master anymore because we are not under law anymore but under grace. Even if we pawned or sold ourselves to sin, God is so faithful to redeem us. Just like our example when something we own is at the possession of someone else, we feel bad and sad. So God, as the maker and creator of all things felt the same way. 

He felt betrayed and angry because of what we did, so this is the reason why there is law, it is to point us to our sins. However, praise God! For He redeemed us from all unrighteousness and put us under grace instead. Redeeming is such a heavy word. You cannot redeem something without any payment. So, God has paid the payment too. Imagine, we are the ones who sold ourselves to sin, it was our own volition but it was God who suffered for it and who redeemed us for it. Our actions, His sacrifice. 

The reason why it is Jesus who suffered is because we can never do anything to save ourselves. We are again under law and the law will definitely judge us according to its standards and that standards were impossible to achieve. God knows all about this so He moved the heavens and the earth to save us and to redeem us from everything. Instead that we are under the law, He put us under His grace. If law points out our sins, grace points out the righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, to anyone who received Him and believed in His name, we are saved. We are no longer under law but under His grace. Yet we then ask, “If we can receive unlimited forgiveness, are we licensed to sin over and over again?” of course not! Even if we are under grace, it is not our license to sin because as we continue to sin, we are crucifying Jesus over and over again. 

True repentance and faith in Jesus Christ will reap a great change in our lives. A manifestation from darkness to light will be evident. The Holy Spirit is working in us and He will give us a new spirit that only seeks to glorify God. Though we are sinful by nature, there will be the necessary want and need to obey God. This is why a battle within us is very real because the new nature God has put in us through our faith in Jesus Christ is battling against our sinful nature who will always try to resurface. 

By all means, we are not subject to death anymore but we are subject to eternal life under God’s grace. We are already redeemed and the price to redeem us was so great that it took the death of Jesus Christ to defeat the bondage of sin and death. Good thing is that Jesus did not only die for us but He also died unto sin. Meaning, He did not die to save us and forgive us every time because we sin a lot only, but He died unto sin that means that He put a stop to the dominion of sin in our lives. So, as people who are already in Christ, our sinful nature has been put to death with Christ also. He has made us new and He has made us new desires— to glorify and obey God. Indeed, it is only through the death and resurrection of Christ that we can be redeemed. 

Therefore, let us always remember that the death, the resurrection, the forgiveness and that we are under grace is never a license for us to sin. Instead, it is our greatest desire to glorify God more with our lives and offer our lives as living sacrifices for Him. May we put in our heads that our redemption was not cheap but it took Christ’s blood to be shed so we can be redeemed. Let us remember that we are not under law but under grace already because of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

For more daily reflection, verse and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

Website: https://youngdisciples.org/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/yd153

Twitter: @YD153

Instagram: @youngdisciples2020

Any thoughts?