You've heard the hymn Amazing Grace:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see.
A lot of people sing these words without really understanding the meaning. I once was lost but now I'm found? Was blind but now I see? Here is a spiritual look at the meaning behind this hymn and just how much we need God's amazing grace.
This is how it all really starts. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them (John 6:44). It isn't that we just suddenly one day believe, and turn to Jesus. I think back to the days before I started to truly believe. I was just like most of you who don't know God. I didn't care about the things of God at all and I certainly didn't think of the spiritual condition I was in. Were I to have died, it would have been on a sad note. Life was just really empty at the time, no matter what I had going on. Little did I know, I was an enemy of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18). As I look back around the time that God's Spirit started calling me, I felt I needed to start cleaning up my act. I tried reading the Bible but wouldn't get very far. I would write in my journal and talk about how I wanted to make changes in my life to help better it. I didn't like being bitter and I wanted to know the reason behind my life. I've always believed that God existed, but I never knew the purpose of actually knowing God. All of my attempts to get right had failed me. But I did have a desire to change...all by the grace of God. He was preparing my heart in advance, so that when the gospel was presented to me, my heart was ready and willing to receive it. Someone out there was praying for me! If you're reading this...someone has been praying for you!
When we start to see ourselves in the light of Christ, we begin to sense a need to start doing right. But here is some Scripture that will help you see that we can't do it on our own. There is nothing we can do on our own to get right with God. Notice then, how the 10 Commandments were written on huge stone tablets? If not, you could read about it in Exodus 20. Anyway, I am going to share from the Bible what explains this in much more detail.
After we get saved, our lives become a testimony of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:3 says, 'They can see that you are a letter from Christ, written by us. It is not a letter written with pen and ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not one carved on stone, but in human hearts'. It would be wrong for me to tell you that you must obey the commandments of God to get right with Him. For instance, a mirror is used to show us our outward appearance. It will help us to see if we have dirt on our face or that our hair is messy. Therefore, we can wash our face and comb our hair. Without the mirror, we probably wouldn't notice how we look. Well, the 10 Commandments is like liking in a mirror that shows us our inward appearance of our heart before God. Kinda cool, huh? 2 Corinthians 3:6 tells us, that HE is the one who has helped us to tell others about His new agreement to save them. We do not tell them that they must obey every law of God or die; but we tell them there is life for them from the Holy Spirit. The old way, trying to be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, ends in death; in the new way, the Holy Spirit gives them life.
When you pray for Jesus to come into your life and place your faith completely in Him, He gives you His Spirit. He then guides you on how to live rightly. This is what it means to be born of the Spirit (born-again). That is an inner work that only He can do. In other words, trying to obey the 10 Commandments to clean up your inward appearance, is likened to taking the mirror off the wall to wash your face and comb your hair. The thought of that is silly isn't it? We also cannot get right with God by ourselves.
So, here you are. You can see physically, right? However, spiritually..perhaps you are blind. The god of this age (Satan) has blinded you (2 Corinth 4:4). This picture is painted more clearly in Genesis, when the serpent (the devil in disguise) decieves Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Please take time to read this account from the Bible. Not only did this affect Adam and Eve, but the whole human race that follows. Therefore, because of it, we all were born into sin and fell under its curse. 2 Corinthians 3:14 says, Not only Moses' face was veiled, but his people's minds and understanding were veiled and blinded too. Even now when the Scripture is read it seems as though Jewish hearts and minds are covered by a thick veil, because they do not see and understand the meaning of the Scriptures. For this veil of misunderstanding can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings their hearts are blind and they think that obeying the Ten Commandments is the way to be saved. Though in verse 16 we are told, But whenever anyone turns to the Lord from his sins, then the veil is taken away. The Lord is the Spirit who gives them life, and where he is there is freedom [from trying to be saved by keeping the laws of God]. But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him.
Are you starting to see things a bit more clearly now? Can you see the spiritual condition you are currently in? You will not get through this life on your own. And without Christ, you won't get through it at all. There is so much more I would love to share. Especially after the recent election. This world wants God out and things are going to start getting really ugly as a result. It is by God's grace that anyone is going to get through this. Either way, there is no hope for a person to get to heaven without having received the truth. It is by God's grace that you are reading this now.
John 3:16-17, For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone to believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
If you have taken this message to heart and are ready to step into God's wonderful grace, take this time now to pray and ask God to give you sight. Ask Him to forgive your sins and to give you a fresh start at really living. Allow Him to guide you through this life and into eternity. Embrace the remaining time to read God's Word and really live out what you learn. Go and tell others about Jesus, so they too will be saved and experience God's amazing grace. Trust Him from here on out!
If you have any questions and are still having uncertainties. Feel free to email me. I will gladly assist you by prayer and through God's Word. Delightinthetruth@hotmail.com.
