THOUGHTS ABOUT GRACE 4 (belief and repentance)

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16-17).

Grace has been defined as "Unmerited favor."  An acrostic definition of grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  Certainly, God's grace is defined by His love--it is for ALL.  The purpose of God's grace is more far-reaching than we can imagine; it certainly includes saving all people of all time.  It is not God's desire to condemn anyone, but the truth is, there is a boundary to God's grace, belief/unbelief.

Repent, translated literally, means, "change mind."  Coming to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior involves a change of mind about God, about Jesus Christ and His authority and sufficiency for salvation.  When Paul spoke to the unbelieving Areopagites at Athens he said: Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men  that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). 

Judgement is coming.   Those who take this truth seriously will take God and His offer of grace seriously and think differently about Jesus Christ--they will follow Him.  That is faith.  That is repentance.

Our Father's Love,
Tom