Living Grace

The English word "grace" originated from a Greek word, pronounced khar-eese (a hint of the source pronunciation of "grace" is audible in khar-eese), which meant to rejoice (grateful, gratitude and agree are all derived from the same source as grace). "Grace" is used to translate that same word, from which it was derived, in the Holy Scriptures.

Grace is a state of being grateful for the forgiveness that comes, from God, when one truly repents and genuinely lives according to God's Law. Grace is not about being ungrateful ("ungraceful") by doing nothing good:

"^6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

^6:2 God forbid.

How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

^6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? [Baptism is a portrayal of death, burial and resurrection of repentant people] ^6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:1-4 KJV)

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body ... but yield yourselves unto God"

True Christians (see Friends Of Jesus) joyfully live according to God's Law because in it is true freedom - from deception now, and from death in due time.

"^6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ^6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ^6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

^6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him [see Born Again, How and When?]: ^6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ^6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. ^6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

^6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ^6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ^6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6:5-14 KJV)

Repentance means to turn, from the way of wrong to the way of right, by means of obeying God according to His instructions (see How To Be A True Christian - Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Lesson 5, Lesson 6, Lesson 7, Lesson 8, Lesson 9, and Lesson 10; also The True Christian Holy Days: Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Lesson 5, Lesson 6, Lesson 7, and Lesson 8).

"^6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

^6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

^6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ^6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

^6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness [see Concupiscence]. ^6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. ^6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

^6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. ^6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:15-23 KJV)

Fact Finder: (a) How do the righteous grow in grace? (b) How do the wicked wither in grace?
(a) See Growing In The Grace And Knowledge
(b) See Grace Into Licentiousness

This Day In History, May 28

585 BC: The "Battle of the Eclipse" outside of Sardis in western Turkey; the sight of a solar eclipse, as predicted by the Greek scientist Thales, caused a truce to be called between Alyattes and Cyaxares.

1156: William of Sicily put down a revolt against his rule, defeating the Byzantine fleet at Brindisi.

1503: James IV of Scotland married Margaret Tudor according to a Papal Bull ("bulletin") issued by Pope Alexander VI.

1533: Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury (who had been appointed to the position after being the Boleyn family's pastor), declared the marriage of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn to be valid, contrary to the decree of Pope Clement VII.

1859: The bell known as "Big Ben" was transported on a carriage, pulled by 16 horses, from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to Westminster.

1588: In an attempt to return England to Papal authority, the Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 troops, left Lisbon (the Armada was destroyed at sea by the Royal Navy).

1898: In Italy, The Shroud of Turin was first photographed in Turin's Cathedral, where it had been housed for 320 years.

1934: The Dionne quintuplets (Cecile, Annette, Yvonne, Emilie, Marie) were born in Callender, Ontario. They became the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1940: The evacuation of the Allied armies from Dunkirk began. By its completion on the night of June 2, a total of 224,585 British and 112,546 French and Belgian troops had been saved from death or capture. In a speech directed at Adolf Hitler, warning of the bloody mauling that a German invasion force would face if it crossed the Channel, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said in Parliament "we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"

1948: During the Israel War of Independence, the Jews surrendered the "Old City" of Jerusalem to King Abdullah's Arab Legion.

1972: The Watergate burglary - White House "plumbers" broke into Democratic National Headquarters.

1972: The Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the English throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, died in Paris.

1982: Pope John Paul II arrived in Britain on the first visit there by a Pope since 1531.

1995: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Russian town of Neftegorsk, killing 2,000 people.

1998: In response to nuclear weapons testing by India, Pakistan conducted a series of nuclear detonations of its own.

2004: Foreign occupation forces in Iraq "approved" the "democratic choice" of Ayad Allawi as Prime Minister of Iraq.