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Taking Grace for granted

Ephesians 2:8-9 “8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of god, 9not of works, least anyone should boast.”

When god put this message on my heart, I looked up the definition of the word granted. Encarta dictionary defines it as “to fail to appreciate or realize the value of something.” So when we take grace for granted we fail to appreciate or we fail to realize the value of the free gift god has given us.

Before a person gets saved, they need to know that there is nothing they can do to earn salvation; they need to know that it is a free gift from god. But What about after a person is saved, does that person have any obligations or responsibilities to god? Of course not to maintain their salvation but they do have a command from god to love your neighbor as yourself.

Over the last 30 to 40 years as our culture has evolved into a self seeking - self centered - self help - pro choice - 10 steps to self success - make love not war - yoga meditating - its all about me era, we have watered down this great command to: be nice and get along with each other as long as I get what I want when I want it. So after 30+ years of this “all about me” attitude, where has it gotten us? It has gotten us 46 million babies murdered each year, 25 to 50% of all marriages ending in divorce, 1 to 2% of the population of the world engaging in homosexual relations and gaining the majority of the voice about marriage and family values, 1 suicide every 40 seconds, and between 6 and 7 of every 100,000 people (not counting unborn babies) murdered every year.

So where have the Christians been during this cultural change? Have they been Conforming to it? Have they been taking grace for granted? We are all so busy patting ourselves on the back, celebrating our salvation that we close our eyes so we don’t have to see the world around us spiraling right down into the pits of hell. Why should we get involved, After all we are saved by grace and need not do any works, right? 2corinthians 5:10 says that each person will stand before the judgment seat of Jesus and receive the things done in the body according to what they have done, whether it be good or bad.

Can’t you just see the pain in Jesus’ eyes as he watches people that are surrounded by Christians who are taking grace for granted and not saying anything, dying in their sins everyday? It’s the same pain he had in his eyes as he hung on the cross and looked at the people who were mocking him and laughing at him. Think about it; Jesus said, if you’re not for me, you’re against me.

If you don’t agree with what I’m talking about, let’s look at some facts. There are approx. 293,600,000 people in America, approx. 205,520,000 of them claim to be Christians and believe the bible to be god’s written word. That’s 70% of the U.S. population claiming to be Christians. Malachi 2:16 says that god hates divorce, but between 25 to 50% of all people getting married in the U.S. will end up in divorce. With 70% of the population being Christians, I can’t imagine that the 25 to 50% of all marriages ending in divorce are all among non-Christians. Romans 1:26-27 talks about the sin of homosexual practices and the punishment due for it. So when there are approx. 205,520,000 Christians and approx. 3,523,200 homosexuals in the u.s., how can they have such a strong voice in issues such as marriage and family values unless the Christians are setting back and letting it happen or maybe even approving of it. Romans 1:32 deals with that too! When 70% of the u.s. population are Christians how can over 1,328,000 babies be legally murdered each year unless the Christians are walking around with their eyes closed. How can a nation that has over 70% of its population claiming to be true Christians have 32% of their babies that are born each year be illegitimate when god’s law says that sex outside of marriage is a sin? Maybe it’s because the majority of those “Christians” don’t believe they have to follow God’s law or speak out against sin, maybe they think they are Christians because they said a little prayer one time.

Have you ever received a precious gift, something that you wanted for a long time? Once you received it, how long was it until you told someone about it? When you receive something that is very special, it is hard to keep it a secret, you want the whole world to know it is yours. So if you are a Christian and not telling people about god’s wonderful, precious gift that you received than it must not mean very much to you! If you are a Christian and not trying to follow “god’s rule book for living” than you are telling god that what he wants for you and of you really means nothing to you!

The suicides, the murders, the teens and preteens engaging in sexual activity, the abortions, the homosexual activity is all due to people wanting what they want when they want it with no regard to anyone else’s feelings, especially god’s! This is not just the people who participate in these sins, but also the Christians who are not doing something about it. The Christians who are taking grace for granted.