Grace
When you hear the word "grace" what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For me, it would be God - the source and giver of grace.
I just realized that my whole life is all about the grace of God, because everything i am experiencing from the first time I came to this world until now is because of His grace. And I can truly say that everything I am and everything i have and everything I need is God's grace.
When we say grace it means unmerited favor, something that is given to us even we don't deserve it. One of it's example is salvation. We don't deserved to be save but God has given us the opportunity to have salvation through Jesus Christ who paid the penalty of our sin.
I am really grateful for God's grace in my life. I was born here on earth because of His grace, I am still alive today because of His grace, and I have salvation and eternal life because of His grace.
There are different kinds of grace God is bestowing to us daily:
Common Grace - it is the grace of God that all of us are experiencing - both the believers of God and the people who don't acknowledge Him. Example of this is all of us are given the opportunity to enjoy God's creation, the sun rises and sets to all the people.
Saving Grace - it is the grace of God experienced by those people who received their salvation the moment they put their trust on who Jesus is and on His finished work on the cross. God's saving grace is available to us, all we have to do is to believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible guarantees us that the moment we believe and trust Jesus, we are saved.
Sustaining Grace - this is the grace of God that keeps us standing and continuing our Christian life.
There are a lot more, but I just included the 3 of it. Indeed God's grace is so amazing that it can change someone's life, it can rescue someone from slavery and bondage of sin. Again, all I can say is all that I have and all that i need is God's grace!
May we all experience and feel God's grace in our life everyday.
Just finished another article! I am so glad that i have given the opportunity to write in this platform. Writing was one of my interest during my childhood, I always write fictional stories, and now, here I am continuing the hobby i have before..
Best Selling Book of All Times
We have read many books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and other famous books, and these books are one of the well-known and one of the best selling book in our time. But this books have no match to the BIBLE.
*According to the Guinness World Record, the Bible is the best selling book of all time. Though it is impossible to know the exact copies that have been printed in the roughly 1500 years since its contest were standardized, but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 to 7 billion copies.*
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/best-selling-book-of-non-fiction
So, what makes the bible the most famous and most sought after book?
The bible is being seen by others as an ordinary literature book, but actually it is not just a simple book that contains different stories, histories and even parables and proverbs. It is a story of a person who gave himself for undeserving people just to save them and show His love and unending grace for people. This book have addressed all the issues of a person. It has all the answer for all the question a person can have about life, death and many issues. But most of all, the center of this book is the life of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.
Amazingly, the Bible is the only book that once a person read and understands it, that person will be transformed to newness of life. The bible is the only book that not can only inform us but it can truly transform and change life. I have heard many testimonies of people being evil, drug addict, addicted to pornography, murderers, prisoners and others, who got free from this things when they read the bible, because they have met and understand how Christ gave His life for them just to save and set them free from the bondage of sin.
No book can ever compared to the Bible. Because the Bible contains the very Word of the Lord. It is not a fictional nor invented contents. The bible amazingly, is written by different authors, like Moses, David, Solomon, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul and other disciples of Jesus Christ, but the interesting point is that, though these authors lived in different timeline and different part of the world, still they did not contradict each others writings, instead they united in one message. So, this only proves that the Bible, though it is written by different people, this people are being guided by the Holy Spirit while they are writing. We can therefore say that the real author of the bible is the Holy Spirit, the God Himself.
If you still don't have the copy of the Bible, may you have time to get one and start reading it, and i know that when you read it, your life will start to change because you will encounter the loving, gracious, merciful and Holy God; the God of all anges.
LIFE
**"Life begins at 40", a famous phrase or idiomatic expression a lot of people believed in. But the question is, "does life really begins at 40?"**
At the age of 40, a person has already experienced many things in life, they have learned a lot from their mistakes and struggles in life. Maybe, they have reach their dreams and goals. But also, at this age a person starts to feel the aging, sickness and muscle pains starts to be felt.
But again, does life is all about those things? Does life is all about reaching your dreams and goals, does life is all about having all the things this world can offer? Does life is all about adventure and experience?
I believe life is more than that! Real life starts not when you were born nor when you reach a specific age.
Life begins when you meet and encounter the creator of life. I believe that life is all about knowing God, the author and Creator of life. For us to really know and understand life, we need to go back to God. Because He is the only One who can define it for us. Life without God is not life at all. Life without God is just breathing but not living. There are 3 Greek word for the word life, the first one is ***bios****,* which means life that starts when we were born, second is ***psyche*** means souls and last is the word ***zoe,*** means life that comes from God - both physical and eternal, a life to the full. SO, with out God, life is formless and meaningless.
You want to experience real and new life, there's just only one way. And that is by believing God and having a real relationship with Him. When a person has a relationship with God, a purposeful and meaningful life starts.
**KNOW GOD, KNOW LIFE! NO GOD, NO LIFE!**
Better Together
There's a famous saying that goes like this, "*No man is an island*". And this saying, i believe is very familiar to all of us, and most of us believe in this saying. Being alone sometimes is very important, especially when we have to meditate or think about important matters, it is also necessary when we are sad or don't want to talk to anybody. There's nothing wrong in being alone for a moment or short period of time but choosing to be alone and not mingling with others is very difficult and a bad idea. Maybe, one can survive being alone and not having a relationship with others, but life without others will be boring and not fun at all.
I believe, life is all about relationship (not just as boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, but also having friends and being connected to relatives.) God created us as relational being, so this means that without others, we can never live life to the full.
As an individual, I am very grateful that I have found true friends in my life. People who don't just accompany me in my daily life but walking with me not just during happy moments but also through tough and difficult times. For me they are not just friends, but they are family.
They are the ones who guided me and encourages me to become a person who God wants me to be. Actually, I have met these people in our church. And, I can fully say that church people are the best people. They will not just treat you as friend or churchmate, but a brother and sister, because that who we are, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
We are not just doing ministry together, but we also eat together. We also go beaches together, to relax from tiring but fulfilling ministry. We also do camps, so that we can share our struggles and difficulties in life. We pray and encourages one another.
Most of my memorable moment happened with them. And I can fully say that life is much better with them.
Choosing people who will surround you is so important, because people whom you allow to influence you has the capacity to make or break you. And I'm glad that these people help me reach my potential. I'm an introvert person, but when I'm with them, I can always open up and comfortable showing the real me. From being a shy type person, I became confident and unashamed sharing my faith and life testimonies.
So, if you are that person who believe you can do life alone. I humbly disagree, because life is better and meaningful with right people.
I hope and I pray that you will have the opportunity to find and have people in your life who will bring out the best in you, people who will not influence you from doing wrong things and will not lead you to any form of bad addiction but will help you make a better person.
Godbless Everyone. Hope you enjoyed reading my simple article.
@Biyaya07
