15 lines
4.7 KiB
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15 lines
4.7 KiB
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<html><head><title>Blue Letter Bible: Day By Day By Grace — Bob Hoekstra</title>
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<div class="head">Day By Day By Grace</div>
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<div class="subhead">Bob Hoekstra</div>
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<div class="desc-center"><div class="pad2020">December 9</div></div>
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<h1>More on the Boldness of Grace</h1>
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<div class="block"><i>I have written more <b>boldly</b> to you on some points…because of the <b>grace</b> given to me by God…Great is my <b>boldness</b> of speech toward you.</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Rom', 15, '15-15');">Romans 15:15</a> and <a onClick="return mV('2Cr', 7, '4-4');">2 Corinthians 7:4</a>)</div>
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<p>When the <b>grace</b> of God is at work in the lives of His people, spiritual <b>boldness</b> is a common result. This was clearly the testimony of the early church. <i>"They spoke the word of God with <b>boldness</b> …And great <b>grace</b> was upon them all"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Act', 4, '31-31');">Acts 4:31</a>, <a onClick="return mV('Act', 4, '33-33');">33</a>).</p><p>The Apostle Paul experienced this same boldness, as he ministered by the grace of God. <i>"I have written more <b>boldly</b> to you on some points…because of the <b>grace</b> given to me by God."</i> Paul's letters often displayed the <b>boldness</b> of <b>grace</b>. Romans was no exception. As he applied the radical truths of the gospel of grace (given in the earlier chapters of Romans), he spoke with characteristic boldness. His exhortation to lay our lives on God's altar is a prime example. <i>"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a <b>living sacrifice</b>, holy, acceptable to God, which is your <b>reasonable service</b>. And do <b>not</b> be <b>conformed</b> to this <b>world</b>, but be <b>transformed</b> by the renewing of your mind, that you may <b>prove</b> what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Rom', 12, '1-2');">Romans 12:1-2</a>). His call to be clothed in Christ, leaving no room for fleshly tendencies, is another notable instance of boldness. <i>"Let us walk <b>properly</b>, as in the <b>day</b>, <b>not</b> in <b>revelry</b> and <b>drunkenness</b>, <b>not</b> in <b>licentiousness</b> and <b>lewdness</b>, <b>not</b> in <b>strife</b> and <b>envy</b>. But <b>put on</b> the <b>Lord Jesus Christ</b>, and make <b>no provision</b> for the <b>flesh</b>, to <b>fulfill</b> its <b>lusts</b>"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Rom', 13, '13-14');">Romans 13:13-14</a>). His pronouncement concerning the Lord's ownership of our lives is one more illustration of the boldness of grace. <i>"For if we <b>live</b>, we live <b>to</b> the <b>Lord</b>; and if we <b>die</b>, we die <b>to</b> the <b>Lord</b>. Therefore, <b>whether</b> we <b>live</b> or <b>die</b>, we <b>are</b> the <b>Lord's</b>"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Rom', 14, '8-8');">Romans 14:8</a>).</p><p><i>"Great is my <b>boldness</b> of speech toward you"</i> wrote Paul to the saints at Corinth. Just prior to this confession of boldness, he had given a radical request to be separate from the defilements of the world. <i>"Do <b>not</b> be <b>unequally</b> yoked together with <b>unbelievers</b>. For what <b>fellowship</b> has <b>righteousness</b> with <b>lawlessness</b>? And what <b>communion</b> has <b>light</b> with <b>darkness</b>? And what <b>accord</b> has <b>Christ</b> with <b>Belial</b>? Or what <b>part</b> has a <b>believer</b> with an <b>unbeliever</b>? And what <b>agreement</b> has the <b>temple</b> of <b>God</b> with <b>idols</b>? For <b>you</b> are the <b>temple</b> of the <b>living God</b>"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('2Cr', 6, '14-16');">2 Corinthians 6:14-16</a>). Yes, God's grace works boldness into our lives.</p>
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<div class="dbdbg_prayer">Dear Father, I praise You for the radical nature of You and Your truth. I thank You for the boldness that Your grace can bring into lives. By Your grace at work in me, cause me to think, pray, speak, and act in godly boldness. For Your glory, grant me, I pray, a boldness that is confident, but not arrogant; daring, but not reckless; uncompromising, but not harsh; unrelenting, but not insensitive; fearless, but not unloving.</div></div></div><div class="desc-center"><div class="pad2020"><a href="./devotions/daybyday/12/1208.html">Yesterday's Reading</a>
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