This week, our questions and discussion are being hosted by Melissa at Breath of Life Thanks, Girl! Appreciate it.
"Today's entry is short, sweet & to the point. Put your thinking cap on...here are this week's discussion questions about Week #5, Grace:"
1. How has your understanding of grace been helped or challenged this week? My understanding of grace hasn't really been challenged, but it has been helped. I guess I often forget that God extends not just forgiveness, but also grace. The slate is not only wiped clean, but it has no history, no b.a.g.g.a.g.e where God's concerned, if true repentance occurs. I am also reminded this week that crummy situations are opportunities for us to be sustained by grace. The humility of a lost job, a serious health issue, a divorce, a failing grade...all are devastating without the hope of grace abundant. Knowing that His grace is eternal shifts my thinking from the here and now to eternal life with Him. I'm not always or even usually good at keeping this perspective. Which is why daily visits and (more to the point) daily cries out to Him are needed.
2. How can God's grace help us overcome temptation? I'm actually not sure I get this question. As I puzzle through it though, based on this study, I see that if I call on God to help me avoid temptation, He is more than faithful to give me "a way out" from under it. (1Cor10:13). I also know that Jesus was tempted by everything (and more) than I might be tempted with, so, though He is blameless, He relates to my temptations. Perhaps the idea that God will not abandon me no matter how I am tempted, and knowing that if I fall, He will be waiting for restoration with me...perhaps that shows how His grace helps me overcome temptation. As I say, I struggled with this question...
3. Read Hebrews 4:15-16. What insight does this passage give us about how to get more of God's grace? I think I answered this partially in the above question. I can be certain that God knows how tempting my temptations are because Jesus faced them. And I can come boldly to the throne because He loves me and wants me to be right with Him. How do we get more of God's grace? It seems to me, we get more by submitting our needs to him, repenting of our sins, and asking for it...constantly.
