Your Greatest Opportunity
God’s “Grace” Offers you the greatest Opportunity of your lifetime. That Opportunity is not earned; but rather, He Offers it to you freely through His Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, and Mercy for you.
“We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain.”
2nd Corinthians 6:1
We have all been Gifted with the free will to live our lives in the Way the Lord is Teaching us that we must. Our ability to host the Joy and Goodness of His Love within our souls depends upon our willingness to do so, nothing withheld. If we ignore, or dilute this spiritual Reality, we risk taking the Opportunity of our lifetimes in vain.
“If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in My Love; even as I have kept My Father’s Commandments, and abide in His Love.
John 15:10-11
These things have I Spoken unto you, that My Joy might remain in you, and that your Joy may be full.”
Keeping the Lord’s Commandments takes “work.” It takes dedicated effort, sincerity, honesty and genuine humility to willingly and consistently turn away from falsity and evil, and leave them behind. Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”
James 2:20
The Lord came into our world to renew our understanding about why and how we must live our lives. That understanding had become lost, covered over by misleading religious edicts of our own making. All that He had been Teaching us through the Law and the prophets was being wasted. Our Opportunity to host the Joy and Goodness of his Love within our souls was being taken in vain.
“And they that shall be of Thee shall build the old waste Places: Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations: and Thou shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of the Paths to dwell in.”
Isaiah 58:12
Thinking that the Lord can fulfill His Quest for our salvation and deliverance into the Joy and Goodness of His Heavenly Love, other than through our free will efforts to abide by His Commandments with all our mind, heart, and strength is spiritual folly.
Proclamations declaring that “salvation is by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone” imply that there is nothing you can do of yourself to help the Lord fulfill His ancient and timeless Quest. Yet everywhere in the Bible, He teaches you that there is plenty you can, and must do.
Consider the very first mention of the Word “Grace” in the Bible:
“But Noah found Grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Genesis 6:8
So, what did Noah do when he realized that he had “found Grace in the eyes of the Lord?” He went to work.
“Thus did Noah; according to all that God Commanded him.”
Genesis 6:22
Noah went to work building his character into a welcoming host for all that the Lord had Given him to know as True and Right. Doing so kept him from being swept away by the falsities and evils that otherwise would have overwhelmed him. Noah followed the Lord’s Commandments, recognizing that he had found the Opportunity of his lifetime.
“I do set My bow in the Cloud, and it shall be for a token between Me and the earth.”
Genesis 9:13
“But as the Days of Noe were, so shall also be the coming of the Son of man be.”
Matthew 24:37
Throughout the entire Bible the Lord Teaches us that as we work with Him, He will Work within us to Lift us above the fray of the many falsities and evils that threaten to overwhelm us. As we diligently follow His Commandments, He Promises to save us from mental, emotional and spiritual harm as He delivers us into the Place that He has Prepared for us since the beginning of time.
In that “Place” He Promises us that we will most certainly flourish in the Joy and Goodness of His Love for us.
This is the Promise of the Lord’s Covenant with humanity. All the prophets, disciples and apostles recognized this spiritual Truth, and so must we. Thinking otherwise forms a great breach between our ability to understand the foundational Message of Scripture.
There is a vast difference between religious doctrines derived solely from the letter of the Word and religious doctrines derived from the Spirit of the Word. Throughout all his writings Paul speaks to us about the dangers of failing to discern the difference between the two.
“And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
2nd Corinthians 3:4-6
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
Who also hath made us able ministers on the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit Giveth Life.”
And so, what do religious doctrines based solely upon the letter of the Word kill? They kill our ability to understand what the Lord has been Teaching us about the most important things of all.
“According to the Grace of God which is Given to me as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.”
1st Corinthians 3:10
The religious leaders of Paul’s time proclaimed that the “works of righteousness” consisted of strict adherence to letter of the Word religious dictates. Those “works” included requirements for physical male circumcision, for physical washing before entering the Temple, for strict adherence for the way cloths were to be worn, for the way hair was to be styled, and for the way the food was to be selected and prepared. These, and many other “letter of the Word” doctrinal requirements where considered “works of righteousness.” Those who conformed were considered “righteous” and anyone who violated these literal-based “religious” beliefs were considered “sinful.”
Paul, as an empowered enforcer of those literal-based religious “laws” cruelly persecuted those who had received a renewed spiritual understanding from the Lord about True meaning of the term “Righteousness.”
“For I say unto you, That except your Righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 5:20
Everything changed for Paul after the Lord confronted him on the road to Damasus. From that moment on Paul realized that his prior beliefs had greatly misled him from recognizing why the Lord had come into our world. And so, Paul spoke up, teaching all who would listen to him about what the Lord had taught him about errors he made about the most important things of all..
“But after that the Kindness and Love of God our Savior toward man appeared.
Titus 3:4-5
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His Mercy He Saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost:”
By stating that we are saved “Not by works of righteousness which we have done” Paul is warning us against blindly following letter of the Word misinterpretations about the True meaning of Righteousness. From his own experience he is teaching us that religious proclamations made from those misinterpretations do not in themselves lead to our salvation, regardless of the status of the religious authorities proclaiming their infallibility.
Rather, by stating that we are saved “according to His Mercy” and “by the washing of regeneration” Paul is describing the Way each of us must live our lives in Order to allow the Lord to reform us and transform us into the person that He has Purposed for us to become.
By doing so Paul calls out the difference between “the words which man’s wisdom teacheth” about the meaning of “righteousness” and the True spiritual meaning of the Word “Righteousness.” He describes our reception of this spiritual understanding as “the renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
How much more clearly can Paul teach us about the Opportunity of our lifetimes? Of all people, Paul realized the great dangers of being misled by religious edicts derived solely from the letter of the Word. And so he warned us against falling into those errors, realizing how vulnerable we are to falling into similar religious pitfalls of our own making.
Galatians 1:6
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another gospel: “
2 Timothy 3:16
“All Scripture is Given by Inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in Righteousness.”
“For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men,
Titus 2:11-12
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, Righteously, and godly, in this present world;”
Of all people, Paul realized that the Lord had come into our world to once again renew our spiritual understanding about the Way He leads us back into his Embrace.
“And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write, for these Words are True and faithful.”
Revelation 21:5
Listen to these ancient and timeless Words of Wisdom:
In Psalms.
“Let Thy Work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy Glory unto their children.
90:16–17
And let the Beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.”
In Acts.
“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, ‘Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
10:34-35
But in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh Righteousness, is accepted with Him.’”
In 1st Corinthians.
“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are One: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
3:8-9
For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
In Galatians.
“For every man shall bear his own burden.
6:7
Let him that is Taught in the Word communicate with Him that Teacheth all Good things.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap.”
And again, in James:
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
2:26
There is no need to add to or subtract from these ancient and timeless Words of Wisdom with letter of the Word-based proclamations of our own making. There is no need to complicate them with thoughts formed from the imaginations of our own hearts, regardless of how well intentioned we may be. The Lord has Given His Testimony to us about this spiritual Reality since the beginning of time.
“Ye shall not add unto the Word which I Command, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord which I Command you.”
Deuteronomy 4:2
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
John 8:58
“If you love Me, keep My Commandments.”
John 14:15
Throughout the entire Bible the Lord Teaches you that it is your responsibility to abide by His Commandments in all that you think, feel and do. You “communicate” your faith and belief in Him only as you live your live accordingly. Doing so allows Him to fulfill His Love’s Quest for your salvation and deliverance into His Embrace. Doing so with single focus is the Greatest Opportunity of your lifetime.
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of Light.”
Matthew 6:22-23
“And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the Right hand of Power, and coming in the Clouds of Heaven.”
Mark 14:62
“And, behold, I come quickly; and My Reward is with Me, to Give every man according as his work shall be.”
Revelation 22:12