THE WORK OF GRACE by Gary Wilkerson
Christ needs no assistance from us with His work of grace!
You may wonder, “Don’t I have a part in the work of grace?” If you try to bring something to Christ’s work, you’ll only mess it up. It is impossible to add to His glorious grace with our rags of unrighteousness. We don’t contain grace—we only receive it. We may give it out, but it is God’s grace, not ours.
This is what Hebrews 10:29 means when it says we “trample underfoot” the blood of Christ when we try to add something to God’s grace. We actually dilute it, insulting the glorious work He has done. In fact, at any given time we are operating in one of two modes: (1) We’re either allowing God to say we are insufficient, and we accept the totality of His grace; or (2) we’re calling His grace insufficient and attempting to add our efforts to it.
You may say, “But if I believed that, I’d never do anything for God.” Actually, the opposite is true. When you live in the grace of Christ, you do more works than ever—because you do them in joy rather than with a grudging sense of obligation. You go to prayer because you love God’s holiness. You study His Word not because it contains your to-do list for the day, but because it’s your life source, your wellspring of peace, joy and direction.
Simply put, grace empowers godly action. So if you are miserable in your walk with Christ—if you are weary, going to church because you fear for your salvation—then you have fallen from the appropriation of His grace. Right now, He is inviting you back, saying, “Come into the covenant I have with the Father. I want to pour My grace over you, to empower you with My Spirit for life.”
Through Him we are fully cleansed, fully at peace with God, and abounding in His grace. We can’t add anything to His finished work—His grace is fully sufficient. It is our role to receive the glorious gift and to walk in it with joy!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV).
You may wonder, “Don’t I have a part in the work of grace?” If you try to bring something to Christ’s work, you’ll only mess it up. It is impossible to add to His glorious grace with our rags of unrighteousness. We don’t contain grace—we only receive it. We may give it out, but it is God’s grace, not ours.
This is what Hebrews 10:29 means when it says we “trample underfoot” the blood of Christ when we try to add something to God’s grace. We actually dilute it, insulting the glorious work He has done. In fact, at any given time we are operating in one of two modes: (1) We’re either allowing God to say we are insufficient, and we accept the totality of His grace; or (2) we’re calling His grace insufficient and attempting to add our efforts to it.
You may say, “But if I believed that, I’d never do anything for God.” Actually, the opposite is true. When you live in the grace of Christ, you do more works than ever—because you do them in joy rather than with a grudging sense of obligation. You go to prayer because you love God’s holiness. You study His Word not because it contains your to-do list for the day, but because it’s your life source, your wellspring of peace, joy and direction.
Simply put, grace empowers godly action. So if you are miserable in your walk with Christ—if you are weary, going to church because you fear for your salvation—then you have fallen from the appropriation of His grace. Right now, He is inviting you back, saying, “Come into the covenant I have with the Father. I want to pour My grace over you, to empower you with My Spirit for life.”
Through Him we are fully cleansed, fully at peace with God, and abounding in His grace. We can’t add anything to His finished work—His grace is fully sufficient. It is our role to receive the glorious gift and to walk in it with joy!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV).