DON’T MISAPPROPRIATE GRACE
By Bishop Mike Okonkwo
Thursday 27th October 2022
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1-2 (KJV)
There are some within the Christian circle who say Grace has saved me and I can do whatever I want. No! Grace doesn’t function that way. If you truly receive Grace, you will serve God with all your heart. You will serve Him with your commitment. You will serve Him with your dedication. You don’t need anyone to force you, manipulate you, cajole you or police you to serve Him. The love of God constrains you to do what you can to say: Lord, I appreciate you.
When I see people going about misapplying or misappropriating Grace by saying “Oh, thank God, Grace has saved me and I’m guaranteed heavens” but continue in sin, my heart aches. Yes, Grace has saved you, but Grace teaches you to live right. Grace does not teach you to misbehave. As a new creation, you don’t have the nature of sin. In fact, without anyone policing you, you can’t love sin. If you find yourself living in sin and you are enjoying it, you have to question yourself whether you were truly saved in the first instance because the nature of sin is not in you. I will have to confirm if your nature was truly changed because it is not in the nature of the new creation to sin.
According to the book of 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away behold all things are become new.” If you put a pig in a mud, it will lie down and enjoy itself because that is its nature. Mud is natural to it, but mud is not natural to fish. Before you were saved, it was natural to sin and you don’t feel any guilt about it. You can lie without feeling guilty. But not when you are saved. As a born-again child of God, there are things you cannot be proud about even when you make mistakes in them. Sinful environment is no longer your natural habitat.
Further Reading: I Peter 2:16, Galatians 5:13
Daily Bible Reading: Morning- Jeremiah 12-14; Evening- 2 Timothy 1