Love and Grace

"Only by love is love awakened," (DA 22). "God is love," (1 John 4:8, 16), and "love is of God," (1 John 4:7). Therefore we do well to understand that great text to read, "Love so loved the world that He gave His Love," (John 3:16). The love of of God is tantamount to the experience of His grace. His grace is both Pardon and Power to usward. "Love is strong as death," (Song of Solomon 8:6), and "the sting of death is sin," (1 Cor. 15:56), therefore, within the love of God is the grace of God and "the power of God unto salvation," (Rom. 1:16).

Now humanity's part is simply to Respond to the Love of God demonstrated in the life and sacrifice of Christ. Each one will be pricked in his heart at one time or perhaps many, many times by the love of God. How he responds determines his destiny. Love may be awakened, that is, Christ, who is love, will be received into the heart, or love may be spurned, that is, rejected as was Christ in the flesh by His own people. If Christ is received He will pardon man from past sins (violations of the law of love, 1 John 3:4) and empower him to live without sinning--to keep him from falling, and to live the law of love which is built upon supreme love to God and impartial love to man. This two-fold element of God's grace (Pardon and Power) is expressed in the words, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," (Heb. 4:16). Mercy is pardon for sins that are past, grace is power for temptations to come (future). Grace is the only "way to escape," (1 Cor. 10:13) both sin and temptation.