Thoughts and Other Things

Last night I was suffering from the most insane case of insomnia. After tossing and turning for two hours, I gave up on sleep and grabbed my Bible which I always sleep with (which explains the condition of its pages). I had been intrigued by a rather not-so-popular Bible character while going over my school work so I decided I would do a quick study of her. Michal. Saul’s younger daughter and David’s first wife. You see like most church folk, I only knew one thing about Michal, she scorned David when he was dancing before the Lord and therefore had no children. But there’s more to this Bible character, more before that incident. Their little love story had me amazed; not at all like any of the other ones in the Bible because Michal was the one who first showed interest in David. “Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.” 1 Samuel 18:20 This phrase “was in love” is the same one used to describe how Jacob felt about Rachel in...

God’s ability to forgive is unfathomable. Last night’s Bible study session was so eye-opening to me. If God only had grace, I wouldn’t make it into heaven. But because He has mercy, I have hope. Grace is what saved me (Eph. 2:5), that voluntary intervention that God made prompted by this uncontrollable love He had for me, even when I didn’t love Him yet (cf.* Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:10). Titus 2:11 says “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” One of my Bibles beautifully defines grace as ‘the undeserved love God gives through Christ for salvation.’ The purpose of grace is to save. Of course this is not the sole purpose of grace and the term ‘grace’ is used in different ways throughout the Bible (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10; 2 Cor. 2:9; Col. 4:6; Heb. 4:16; 2 Pet. 3:18). But I want us to focus on this purpose of grace to save. So here I am, saved by grace, in a living relationship with God, freed from the power of sin, but then I fall into sin. What now? Grace has alread...